Traffic changes in Speightstown from Wednesday

From next Wednesday, several major roads in Speightstown, St Peter, will become one-way with short-term parking and delivery zones.

A release yesterday from the Ministry of Transport, Works and Water Resources said the changes aimed to reduce traffic congestion and illegal parking.

Queen Street, starting from the junction at Chapel Street, along with Orange Street and Sand Street, will be all one-way in a northerly direction. Goddings Alley onto Chapel Street will remain one-way, but motorists can no longer enter Chapel Street from the KNR Husbands Highway.

Major Walk will continue to have two-way traffic and Church Street will remain one-way. There will be no entry onto Sand Street from Highway 1B.

Designated two-hour maximum parking spaces, and 30-minute delivery zones, will be allocated along Queen Street, Orange Street and Sand Street. Road markings and signage will be installed to guide motorists.

The ministry’s Deputy Chief Technical Officer of Design Services Jason Bowen said they had spent significant time examining the challenges within Speightstown. He said Queen Street, Orange Street and Sand Street experienced problems daily such as illegal parking and double parking.

“The roads in Speightstown are very narrow and that further complicates the situation . . . . The roads are actually two-way in flow so when people park, this narrows the roads further and that creates problems for movement. We developed a number of solutions to help deal with these issues. With these measures we expect an improvement to traffic flows and improved parking for patrons and citizens of Speightstown,” he added.

Member of Parliament for St Peter, Colin Jordan, said traffic flow challenges in Speightstown, particularly along Queen Street, had impacted businesses, vendors, residents and pedestrians. He urged people to be patient and give the changes time to work.

Owner of Fisherman’s Pub, Clement Armstrong, said he was willing to give the new traffic flow changes a chance.

“Speightstown is a big town to manage; 75 per cent of the people who get reported in Speightstown are tourists. Some of the tour buses don’t come just to park, it’s to use the bathroom facilities.

“A man came by my shop and offloaded 12 tourists and they came and reported him . . . . We are running people away. That is not good for tourism,” he lamented. (PR/BW)