Traffic flow in St James with new plan
President of the St James Community Improvement Committee Earl Crosby described the launch of the experimental traffic scheme in the area as successful...barring a few hiccups in the afternoon. Crosby said the plan had worked well for the morning period but had suffered in the afternoon as parking signs had not been completed.
"Everything went well this morning. The traffic wardens were out and police were directing at Long Circular Road," Crosby said. "The traffic was flowing. Not once did I see the traffic at a standstill." Crosby said the Works Ministry had promised to have the signs ready today.
"This morning I was surprised. I didn't expect that it would have affected the traffic in such a positive way, but changing the direction of traffic on some of the back streets helped. "I would say it was successful." Mervyn Rubain, who has lived in the area for 40 years, agreed the plan had made a difference to the morning flow.
"The side of the road heading east was clear and things moved at a steady pace, but this afternoon it was like nothing had changed. It took me the same amount of time to get into Port-of-Spain from St James." Safiya Mohammed who works in St James said she hadn't noticed a difference. "It was the same traffic and took the same amount of time to get to work. I expected a big difference, but I don't see it," Mohammed said.