Sinanan announces plan to reduce Chaguanas traffic

The Ministry of Works and Transport has announced a three-phase plan to alleviate traffic in Chaguanas, including a long-term plan of expanding the Sir Solomon Hochoy highway.

Works Minister Rohan Sinanan told Newsday the designs were complete, but most of the work still had to be tendered out, so he could not yet calculate the cost or give a time frame for the work.

“The project is being done in three phases, and right now we are into Phase I. That is the widening of bridges and existing roads and removing some turns to make it easier.”

He said the second phase involved adding lanes and the third would be the long-term plan of an interchange on the highway.

In a release on Tuesday, the ministry announced an executive team from the ministry, including Sinanan, met on Monday with members of the Chaguanas Chamber of Industry and Commerce as well as businesspeople to address traffic in the borough and the surrounding areas.

At the meeting, Hayden Phillip, director of the Programme for Upgrading Roads Efficiency, updated the Chamber on several key future initiatives. They include expanding the Solomon Hochoy Highway to three lanes from Chaguanas to the Chase Village Highway, reconstructing the Bridal Road Bridge, and rehabilitating the Caroni Road from Silver Bridge to the Uriah Butler Highway.

Other ongoing projects were improving Phase 2A of the Endeavour Interchange, as well as various sections of the Uriah Butler Highway from Chaguanas to Grand Bazaar.

Sinanan said different projects were already in different stages of progress for the first phase, including preparation work such as building new drains to allow the widening of roads.

Asked about a time frame, he said, “They have started, and it will be an ongoing work. We will see as we go along.”