Wasted walkovers all over

THE EDITOR: I am intrigued by a request from a letter writer for a walkover at South Quay. It's not the only place where jaywalkers, aka the "bounce mih nah" crowd, inconvenience drivers.

Many people will tell you that the grinding traffic on Railway Road in San Juan is because there is a narrowing of the roadway into one lane, together with a miserably lame crossing for thousands instead of an efficient walkover.

Now if it's one thing, the Government has gotten walkovers spectacularly wrong.

Let's compare the walkovers at the Pasea, Don Miguel and La Horquetta intersections: they are the bare minimum, ie, a steep staircase to carry up your bags, walk over and then down. There is no shelter so you are stuck in pouring rain.

They are an improvement from the one at Charlieville which remains uncovered and you can get absolutely soaked in minutes. Moreover, the area surrounding those walkovers are the filthiest you have ever seen – rubbish, snakes, vermin, uncut grass, outdoor toilet (latrine) ambience and stagnant water.

Now compare those to, firstly, the Divali Nagar walkover. It's really long, nobody uses it and it's a waste of taxpayers' dollars. Mercifully, the toilet ambience is low-key, but it's there.

Incidentally, on every walkover it's easy to be robbed as there are no lights – none.

Similarly, at the entrance to Port of Spain by the Police Traffic Branch residents of the area duped successive administrations into thinking they deserved a walkover to save their lives. Today, no one uses it. People are still leading schoolchildren across the highway. Recently I saw a man carrying a live alligator across to the market and he did not use the walkover.

While this is happening, people are leapfrogging and doing somersaults and jumping jacks to cross by Bhagwansingh's Hardware to get to an from the industrial estate. No walkover for them; they have to beg speeding drivers for a bligh on a badly painted, haphazardly laid out crossing. No one in the Ministry of Works and Transport passes here, because this could not be the poor work of a government ministry.

Then you get to the creme de la creme of walkovers – the Hyatt Regency walkover.

At any given day and time there are still thousands of people crossing the streets in Port of Spain, simply because at none of the intersections has the Government enforced "no pedestrian" traffic measures.

Right now a walkover is needed from Manzanilla to Mayaro since the road remains impassable despite the many field trips of Minister Rohan Sinanan and his picnic bunch.

I cannot understand for the life of me why a government spends millions on a walkover of several hundred feet, with elevator, for Port of Spain, but builds a "barely there" facility for others outside of the ruling party's natural constituency.

But say what, give people what they want – walkovers for all.

LINDA CAPILDEO

Port of Spain