Imbert has PoS evacuation plan

He outlined his draft evacuation plan for the city at yesterday’s post-Cabinet media conference at Whitehall.

The need for a plan became obvious in the chaotic traffic jams seen last week Monday and Wednesday, when people fled the city respectively after the bomb blast on Frederick Street and in the threat of Tropical Storm Emily.

Imbert said an evacuation should be overseen by a central authority which would collect information and issue directives.

"There should be aerial monitoring. Closed-circuit television cameras should be manned by the central authority."

Things likely to cause an evacuation, he said, were harsh weather, explosions, fire, earthquake, or civil disturbance.

He outlined the plan.

"The first thing to look at is designated routes. The protective services are to be mobilised in advance to take control of intersections, gas-stations and supermarkets."

Recalling that the cell-phone system had broken down during the recent crises, he said an evacuation plan should make provision for the police and other agencies to communicate with each other by radio.

A future evacuation of Port-of-Spain, said Imbert, should see the roads leading out of the city converted to carry three lanes of traffic out of the city and just one lane coming into the city. This would be done for the Eastern Main Road, Churchill-Roosevelt Highway and the Priority Bus Route, with shoulders being converted into extra traffic lanes.

Within the city, a traffic-lane around the Queen’s Park Savannah would be a non-stop dedicated transit lane which would help keep the traffic flowing. The same would occur on the highways.

He saw the private maxi-taxis and buses of Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) as each having a key role in an evacuation. "We need to improve the capacity of the PTSC" he said. "And we are working on that."

He said the draft evacuation plan would remain a table-top plan until put to the test in a real situation.

Imbert praised the persons and groups who had helped devise the draft evacuation plan, including ACP (Traffic) Nazamul Hosein, PTSC, Police Service Highway Patrol, Ministry of Works and Transport, Maxi-Taxi Association, and the Office of Disaster Preparedness, with talks also being held with the Downtown Owners and Merchants Association (DOMA) and Port-of-Spain mayor Murchison Brown.

He promised to seek public comment on the plan, and to implement a "trial plan" in about three months.