Curepe overpass opens to traffic

The Curepe intersection at the Churchill Roosevelt Highway, which featured several traffic lights, has been replaced with the new four-lane overpass which was partially opened to vehicular traffic on Wednesday. Minister of Works and Transport, Rohan Sinanan, cut the ceremonial ribbon and decommissioned the traffic lights.

The structure, he said, was accessible to traffic for the past six weeks, and minor finishing work is ongoing.

Sinanan, speaking with media on site, said, "If you consider that the bridge would have been completed six weeks ago, and completed in just about a year...in my opinion, that is excellent progression, when you compare it to the other interchanges that took a lot longer than that.”

The sod for the $221 million bridge was turned by the Prime Minister in February last year and was first earmarked for completion last November. The opening was pushed back to January and then to April.

All that is left to complete, Sinanan said, is some paving on the highway, minor drainage and beautification works, which have a two-week deadline.

"We are satisfied that the project was completed within a good enough timeline and, so far, the project is within budget.

He said it was initially budgeted to cost around $480 million in 2012 under the previous administration.

When the current government decided to continue this project, after most of the matters in the courts concerning acquisition were completed, the project was re-tendered. The design-build contractor is China Railway Joint Venture. Land acquisition was initially budgeted for around $150 million in 2013, Sinanan said, but the present government reduced it to $85 million.

"We added some additional work and still managed to stay within budget."

He said work on the project was practically undisturbed through the covid19 pandemic because construction was already at a stage where social distancing could have been maintained.

"And, if you had stopped the project there and then," Sinanan said, "it would have caused more problems at the restart and it would have been dangerous for people using the intersection.”

The intention is to eliminate unnecessary stand-still traffic caused by the traffic lights at the previous junction.

The ministry of works undertook a traffic study in 2012 to assess the impact of the proposed interchange, which, it said, revealed a "staggering difference in travel times once the interchange was complete," in particular, notably:

* Decrease of morning delays through the Curepe intersection onto the Churchill Roosevelt Highway (CRH), from approximately 11 minutes to 19 seconds, per vehicle.

* Decrease of afternoon delays through the Curepe intersection onto the CRH, from 22 minutes to 19 seconds.

* Decrease of morning delays on Southern Main Road, from nine minutes, 30 seconds to 35 seconds.

* Decrease in afternoon delays from about 21 minutes to about 66 seconds.