Why Flyover Roads Are Good For Barbados
Let’s face it! Barbados needs fly over roads now more than ever; there is just no getting away from it; these mornings and evenings snake crawls must end; flyovers won’t solve it 100%, but they will surely reduce the stress and road rage of everyday commuters.
There is no way it should take you one hour or more to get from Bridgetown to Sheraton Mall during rush hour; total madness.
I’m not sure who has it worse, the people living on the south coast or the people living on the west coast of Barbados, but I’m betting it’s the westerners; my heart and gas money go out to you.
Sure, every developing country has traffic issues but this congestion can’t go on forever. Traffic congestion is partly a result of infrastructure planning and development, but mostly it is a symptom of economic growth.
Infrastructure development is not dynamic – capacity is built to accommodate a certain threshold at one time; once that threshold is reached, congestion occurs. Demand, however, increases according to a variety of factors beyond just the road capacity, and the economy is a major driver. As the economy grows and more people can afford to buy cars, the roads slowly fill up.
This government or some future government has to address this issue.
Unlike developed countries we don’t have dedicated bus lanes, no dedicated walking or bicycle lanes; we have one lane for everyone to share, up or down, so if there is one accident just know you will be late.
ABC Highway
The ABC highway is like a flyover that is on the ground; it was opened in 1989, that’s over 30 years ago; it has outlived its time. However, if that was never built you would probably have to leave home at least three hours ahead of time to get to your destination.
Please don’t tell me to leave home three hours before, as this is counterproductive for me; that time spent on the road should be time spent at work doing something useful.
The advantages of flyovers are that they play a major role in streamlining the traffic control system: The Pollution effect is reduced; the risk of accidents is reduced, saves motorists and commuters time as well as gas and also will contribute a lot to the aesthetics of the country. So instead of building new roads on the ground simply put them in air.
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Road flyovers have an added advantage of helping to create additional road space overhead therefore minimizing the acquisition of built-up lands on either side, which is costly and time-consuming, besides causing great hardship to those affected.
The persons traveling on the flyover can enjoy the panoramic view of the beautiful country of Barbados; both tourists and locals alike.
In my opinion, a flyover doesn’t have to be from the Grantley Adams International Airport to Warrens, but maybe from Top Rock to the Samuel Jackman Prescod Institute of Technology (SJPI) area is a good start. this eliminates the Garfield Sobers roundabout morning and evening madness and the Wildey triangle mayhem.
Although flyovers are effective in reducing the travel time, they can cause congestion when flyovers are placed at intersections or when the road capacity is reached during peak hours and the trip making pattern changes or the traffic volume of vehicles traveling between A&B is greater than the capacity of the flyover; I’ll let the engineers figure that one out.
A detailed traffic study is done before constructing a flyover. The origin and destination of the trip makers are identified along with the present traffic volume; consider the two points as A & B. The Flyover is approved if the majority of the traffic travels from point A to point B.
Some of the reasons why a flyover reduces traffic congestion are:
- The construction of the flyover provided two more lanes and thus increased the capacity of the roadway.
- As a flyover is access controlled, it eliminates any chances of conflicts and congestion.
- The travel time between the two locations is significantly reduced. This also helps in reducing traffic congestion.
I hope I live to see and drive with less stress when the flyers are built.
Every day we refuse to build the flyover roads means it will cost the Barbados taxpayers more as inflation will increase the cost of building these much-needed overpass roads.
Why Flyover Roads Aren’t Good For Barbados (Yet) – Click Here
