Basseterre, St. Kitts, March 24, 2022 (SKNIS): The Ministry of Public Infrastructure has worked assiduously to get the traffic lights across the city of Basseterre erected and functioning in an effort to ease the flow of traffic within the business district.
During the March 23, 2022 edition of SKNIS’s ‘Working For You’, a panel comprising of officials from the Public Works Department and the Traffic Department of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force spoke to the importance of reducing emissions coming from motor vehicles within the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis and plans to further improve the flow of traffic.
“In regards to pollution, you can carpool to reduce emission by having instead of one person to a car you can have three or four persons using one car. But I must say, there has been a lot of planning over the years to see how Basseterre itself can be revitalized and I know that one of the issues that has been looked at is the whole flow of traffic within the Basseterre area. There have been discussions and plans placed on the table for consideration and when they are approved we will see an even greater efficiency of traffic management in the Basseterre area. We are taking into consideration all of the traffic including the buses, the commuters, where you park and whether or not we will be needing parking meters so that you park for a specific time and then you move. So, all these things are being looked at,” said Chief Engineer Mr. Livingston Pemberton.
The function of the traffic lights will provide ease to the flow of traffic around the city, ensuring better safety for both motorists and pedestrians alike. Nonetheless, parking around the city remains an issue of concern for some and Inspector Carlene Phipps outlined a number of areas that can be utilized for parking within the city limits.
“Persons can carpool on their way to work in which your neighbor or friend can pick you up and drop you to work and you guys can rotate. With the changes, we must do carpooling or create more areas to park. Currently, we have the parking lot at Port Zante (east and west), and of course other areas around town, for example, the Basseterre High grounds, which is an area that nobody tends to use. You can also park inside Warner Park. So, we have to use our initiative and find ways to park our vehicles safely,” said Inspector Phipps.
Phase Two of the street lights was installed at the junction of Wellington Road and Dickenson Street, the intersection of College Street and Cayon Street, and the intersection of College Street and the Bay Road. The signal lights at the round-a-bout in front of Rams Supermarket on the Bay Road as well as those in the vicinity of the Sands Complex were also officially turned on.
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