Basseterre, St. Kitts, February 18, 2021 (SKNIS): Engineer at the Public Works Department (PWD), Livingston Pemberton, gave an update on phase two of the traffic lights installation in Basseterre where he said that the project is nearing completion.
In an interview with St. Kitts and Nevis Information Service (SKNIS) on February 17 at Wellington Road, Mr. Pemberton said, “We would have done phase one and we would have done three intersections and now this is phase two where we are doing seven intersections.
“When we would have done phase one, the intention then was to do more than three intersections however due to financial constraints at the time, only three intersections were done,” he said. “And so in 2021, we are now continuing that project and we are calling it phase two where we are now introducing seven additional intersections.”.
He stated that “These would have been influenced by traffic counts that would have been done and we would have looked at the movement of the traffic, where they were turning. We were trying as much as possible to ensure that we regulate the flow of traffic within the Basseterre area for now because this is the concentration for both phase one and phase two of the traffic lights.”
“I would like to emphasize that studies were taken at each intersection and out of those studies then the design for those traffic lights was actually done,” he added.
“A consulting firm named ADeB Consultants out of Jamaica was contracted and they would have done the traffic count and study and out of that, the design would have been implemented to have the traffic lights,” said Mr. Pemberton.
Mr. Pemberton also addressed the concerns of citizens and residents who were critical of the traffic lights being in close proximity to one another.
“For those who are thinking that the traffic lights are too close to each other, it is important for us to understand that when they are actually commissioned that they are flowing in sync,” he said.
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