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Contact:
Chris Satney
Monday, October 30, 2006 – The Ministry of Communications, Works,
Transport and Public Utilities has been clearing up some misunderstanding of a
recently held demonstration on the Castries/Gros-Islet Highway over a week ago.
The demonstration was to prove that the route being rehabilitated could
accommodate a four-lane carriageway. To do so, the ministry utilized four large
trucks to drive along a short part of the route simultaneously.
Ministry officials said the trucks were only used as an example that the highway
width, an international minimum, could work. Head of the Ministry's Special
Projects Unit (SPU), Albert Jn. Baptiste said, when the route is opened for
four-lane traffic, trucks would not be allowed to travel in the way
demonstrated.
“We felt that if we could demonstrate to the public that four big trucks can
fit, it would be convincing enough to demonstrate to the public that almost any
combination of vehicles can transit on that four-lane carriageway safely,” said
the SPU head.
He said the four lane highway running from the Vigie Roundabout to the area in
front Sandals Halcyon, will have a continuous concrete median of some 30 inches
high, separating the route into two carriageways, each having two-lane traffic.
The outer lanes, he says, will be 3 meters wide, which will accommodate trucks
and other vehicles of the size used in the demonstration, as well as smaller
vehicles, while the inner lanes will have a width of 2.75 meters.
He further stated that the four-lane route, though part of the highway, is not a
highway in itself, but a traffic control measure that will have specific
travelling speeds and guidelines. He also noted that ninety-degree turns
normally executed across the highway from junctions along the route will not be
permitted when the four-lane carriageway is opened. Motorists will be required
to travel from their direction to the nearest roundabout in order to turn into
the other carriageway.
The remainder of the route under rehabilitation will be a three lane
carriageway. This includes the stretch of road from Jn. Marie's Gas Station to
the Vigie Roundabout and from the Sandals Halcyon entrance to the Choc/Union
Roundabout, now under construction.
Motorists, officials say, will have little to worry about where pedestrians are
concerned, as some six pedestrian overpasses, also known as foot bridges, will
be constructed at strategic points along the entire route.
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