by Kevon Browne
St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN) – The traffic lights at the Bird Rock/Bay Road intersection are to be commissioned after civil work is completed in a week.
Livingston Pemberton, Engineer with Public Works Department, in an interview during ZIZ’s Morning Show with G-Cue during the ‘On The Road” segment on February 15.
“Finally, the junction of Bird Rock and Bay Road, that intersection, the traffic signal [there] that will be commissioned shortly. We have the contractor on the ground, they are doing some civil work at the moment, which should be completed within a week, and thereafter, that traffic signal should be commissioned.”
One caller expressed concern about the time allotted to pedestrians to cross the street, especially for the differently abled in the community. Livingston said consideration is made for the slowest in the community when crossing the road.
“When the timing on the traffic lights are being decided, [it is decided] based on the width of the road, and also it is intended for the slowest amongst us to be able to get across the road. But I will take on board what the caller would have said, and we will look at the time and again to see if there’s any way we can add any more, but that was taken into consideration when coming up with the time.”
Livingston continues, “you would have seen some markings – lanes in the road. Some persons are familiar with them; some persons are still becoming familiar with them. We want to let you know that those will be signalised shortly, and we ask the persons to be aware. You will have, for example, when you’re coming from the Bird Rock end, you will have a slip lane. You would have a through lane, and you would have a turning lane. All right. so please be aware of these… So, if you’re not too certain, you can just observe the traffic, how it is flowing before, get a pretty good idea as to how it should work and then manoeuvre your way through that.”
The project commenced in Jan 2021, with the Bird Rock/Bay Road intersection being one of seven new traffic lights installed.
The other six were commissioned in March 2022. However, the Bird Rock/Bay Road intersection had some challenges that prevented its commissioning.
Slip lanes were installed to ease traffic in the area. Restrictions on movement delayed the project completion during high COVID-19 transmission, as well as complaints from property owners and business owners of the surrounding areas and the inability to do an accurate vehicle count to help understand the flow of traffic and the best way to program the lights.
With the news of the impending commissioning, road users may have to adjust to a new flow of traffic in the Bird Rock area in the coming weeks.
