THE highway expansion taking place on the Solomon Hochoy Highway between Chaguanas and Couva has only exacerbated the frustrating traffic we are experiencing for this period especially this Carnival season.
I cannot understand why there is so much traffic on the road all of a sudden but the heavy machinery operating between Chaguanas and Couva with the aim to add an extra lane in each direction, although welcomed, has caused hours-and-hours of traffic jams. It seems we spend half our lives in traffic wasting our lives in smoke, potholes that swallow your car whole and cursing from fellow drivers with a sudden violent angry outburst provoked by one motorist on another motorist by the stupid actions of their driving abilities. Road rage seems to be everywhere.
There may be a need now for a mass transit system but the last time this was tried, it was steeped in corruption allegations with hundreds of millions of dollars charged in feasibility studies. It never got off the ground. If we can be reliably and safely moved to our places of work from our homes, I believe many citizens would use the mass transit system and it would save us massive amounts of wasted time in traffic, wasted manpower and money.
Promoting massive public transportation systems like trains and buses might be the only hope we have to deal with this problem where we can carry large numbers of people to and from the place of work. This can significantly reduce the number of cars on the road which is desperately needed.
Some ways our authorities can look at to reduce traffic are as follows:
Transform traffic light management so their are less traffic lights in certain neighbourhoods and major connection points to reduce traffic;
Limit parking near busy intersections;
Plan where drivers can use alternative routes with proper paved roads instead of potholes all over them that swallow whole cars;
Improve bus service and that’s a simple one but an effective one;
Erect more park-and-rides facilities to alleviate the congestion;
Maybe it’s time to relook at building a robust light rail network; and
Promote carpooling and ride-sharing.
The punishment on the highways is hellish and nothing short of mind numbing punishment. It’s time for us to stop the punishment and put someone else in power to use their brains and design a proper transportation infrastructure to alleviate the unnecessary torture that we face on the nation’s roads very single day.
Neil Gosine is an insurance executive. He was appointed a temporary Opposition Senator and is also the treasurer of the UNC and a former chairman of the National Petroleum Marketing Company of Trinidad and Tobago. He holds a Doctorate in Business Administration, a Master’s in Business Administration MBA, BSC in Mathematics and a BA in Administrative Studies. The views and comments expressed in this column are not necessarily those of AZP News, a Division of Complete Image Limited.
AZP News is an independent news organisation that is not affiliated with any big business and depends solely on advertising to pay our bills. Therefore, we are asking for the generosity of our readers to help us with small donations of any amount, but we will be happy with $10, $20 or $50. Click Here to Donate
Solutions to Traffic
THE highway expansion taking place on the Solomon Hochoy Highway between Chaguanas and Couva has only exacerbated the frustrating traffic we are experiencing for this period especially this Carnival season.
I cannot understand why there is so much traffic on the road all of a sudden but the heavy machinery operating between Chaguanas and Couva with the aim to add an extra lane in each direction, although welcomed, has caused hours-and-hours of traffic jams. It seems we spend half our lives in traffic wasting our lives in smoke, potholes that swallow your car whole and cursing from fellow drivers with a sudden violent angry outburst provoked by one motorist on another motorist by the stupid actions of their driving abilities. Road rage seems to be everywhere.
There may be a need now for a mass transit system but the last time this was tried, it was steeped in corruption allegations with hundreds of millions of dollars charged in feasibility studies. It never got off the ground. If we can be reliably and safely moved to our places of work from our homes, I believe many citizens would use the mass transit system and it would save us massive amounts of wasted time in traffic, wasted manpower and money.
Promoting massive public transportation systems like trains and buses might be the only hope we have to deal with this problem where we can carry large numbers of people to and from the place of work. This can significantly reduce the number of cars on the road which is desperately needed.
Some ways our authorities can look at to reduce traffic are as follows:
The punishment on the highways is hellish and nothing short of mind numbing punishment. It’s time for us to stop the punishment and put someone else in power to use their brains and design a proper transportation infrastructure to alleviate the unnecessary torture that we face on the nation’s roads very single day.
Neil Gosine is an insurance executive. He was appointed a temporary Opposition Senator and is also the treasurer of the UNC and a former chairman of the National Petroleum Marketing Company of Trinidad and Tobago. He holds a Doctorate in Business Administration, a Master’s in Business Administration MBA, BSC in Mathematics and a BA in Administrative Studies. The views and comments expressed in this column are not necessarily those of AZP News, a Division of Complete Image Limited.
AZP News is an independent news organisation that is not affiliated with any big business and depends solely on advertising to pay our bills. Therefore, we are asking for the generosity of our readers to help us with small donations of any amount, but we will be happy with $10, $20 or $50. Click Here to Donate