Work and Infrastructure Minister Jack Warner is on a roll. He is not only working on relieving the traffic woes for south commuters, but has major plans of doing the same for traffic-worn northerners. His focus this time is from Diego Martin to Port-of-Spain via underground tunnels and overpasses. In an exclusive interview with the Business Guardian last Friday at his Richmond Street office, Port-of-Spain, Warner revealed that the Government is engaging in a $7.2 million Northern Valley Link road study that would connect the Diego Martin area to Port-of-Spain via Maraval. He said construction should begin by 2013 and and finish in 2015.
The main purpose behind this initiative is to link and provide relief for residents in the north valleys and around Port-of-Spain. This new project is in addition to the Diego Martin highway expansion project. Warner noted that the Diego Martin highway expansion project is constructed to relieve traffic along the major arteries, including Diego Martin Main Road between Victoria Gardens and Starlite Shopping Plaza, Western Main Road and the Audrey Jeffers Highway. He explained that this highway is a creation of a northbound two-lane carriageway (between Victoria Gardens and Acton Court). It would also widen the existing southbound carriageway to three lanes (from Action Court to Western Main Road) and a new signalled intersection at Four Roads and the Diego Martin Highway.
Finances covered
Warner said a memorandum of understanding was signed on November 9, 2011, between the French company Egis International SA and National Infrastructure Development Company Ltd (Nidco) to examine the feasibility of a northern link. He said 80 per cent of the funding is a gift from the French government. He said data collection is already in progress and should be completed by April. The study would also look at the feasibility of a bypass road around Port-of-Spain, which would enhance connectivity to the city centre and link the main inhabited valleys via five exchanges:
• Tucker Valley
• Diego Martin/Petit Valley
• Maraval
• St Ann's
• Lady Young Road
This ambitious initiative, he said, would be considered in to phases: Lady Young Road to Diego Martin, and Diego Martin to Tucker Valley. Painting a clearer picture of phase one, Warner said there would be a connection through Maraval Valley. This would start off at Lady Young Road, in the vicinity of Neal and Massy compound, skirting the top of the St Ann's/Cascade area and connecting to Maraval. The other route, he said, is in the vicinity of the National Petroleum flyover, passing through east Port-of-Spain and then north of Port-of-Spain towards Maraval in the vicinity of the existing Maraval roundabout.
Warner said phase one includes three options from Maraval to Diego Martin:
• Maraval to a point close to the Diego Martin Western Main Road interchange
• Maraval to the Diego Martin Highway at the start of the existing dual carriageway
• Maraval to the Diego Martin Highway in the vicinity of Crystal Stream.
To avoid disruptions in communities and relocation, Warner said these areas would be connected via underground and, in some cases, overpasses.
He said recommendations should be made by July.
Other projects on the cards:
1. Warner said the Government would start construction of the San Fernando to Princes Town in January 2013. Followed by Princes Town to Rio Claro.
2. He noted that work has restarted on the President's House and should be completed in the next 18 months.
"This is something that you cannot rush because I want to preserve it."
3. He said his ministry is also focusing on repairing 67 out of the 300 bridges and land slips in areas including Todds road, Caparo, Brasso and Tabaquite.
4. The magnificent seven starting northwards along the Savannah
• Queen's Royal College, a German renaissance design
• Hayes Court, residence of the Anglican bishop, built in 1910
• Ambar's House or Roomo, built in the French Baroque style with marble imported from Italy
• "Mille Fleurs" or Prada's House, a town house typical of the turn-of-the-century with impressive iron fretwork.
• The Roman Catholic archbishop's home built in 1904.
• The extravagant Moorish-style mansion-White Hall that is the Prime Minister's office.
• The Killarney, a brick and turreted residence also called the Stollmeyer house after the family who built this miniature Rhine castle.
These are all European-styled mansions that represent some of the finest surviving European architecture.