Port of Spain mayor: Only people traffic on the Avenue soon

People can look forward to the pedestrianisation of Ariapita Avenue, Port of Spain, soon.

The avenue will be closed to traffic and only accessible to people at certain times, Port of Spain mayor Joel Martinez told Newsday on Friday.

Martinez said this and other plans are some of the ways the city is moving along with its revitalisation plans.

He spoke with Newsday after the launch of the Commonwealth Garden at Wildflower Park, Serpentine Road, St Clair.

Last year the Prime Minister announced plans to revitalise the capital, including the development of Memorial Plaza, the Salvatori Building site and Piccadilly Street.

Martinez explained the pedestrianisation of Ariapita Avenue would probably take place in phases.

"We are going to create an area where it is going to allow a lot of people activity to take place.”

Martinez said work will also be done done on Lapeyrouse Cemetery to be able to “bring people back in.” He said a lot of TT’s history is there, and it is a place thata lot of people visit quite often.

People don’t visit, however, because of the dilapidated condition of the cemetery. Martinez said the city wants to revitalise the cemetery and make it a historical space where “we can invite tourists. We want to be able to put down lights, and cameras and that sort of thing, beautify the whole landscape and allow people to look after their plots and rename it properly so people would see that when you walk through the cemetery it would be a sort of historical development at the same time.”

Martinez said this will take place this year. He did not say exactly when but added that the planning had already been done and it was just a matter of executing it.

He said work on the city’s revitalisation has already started, as the TT Electricity Commission (T&TEC) had been asked over the Christmas season to light up all parks and squares. He said the commission had done its part and the corporation now had to do the decorative lighting.

“We have a lot of little things happening. While the big projects take a little bit longer to come along, they are also in the planning and getting-ready-to-roll-out stage,” Martinez added.

He said the revitalisation was really kicking up.

In 2012, former Port of Spain mayor Louis Lee Sing temporarily made Ariapita Avenue and Tragarete Road one-way. Lee Sing had also hoped to restore Lapeyrouse Cemetery and make it a visitor attraction.