Motorists are advised that effective Wednesday, March 22, several major roads in Speightstown, St. Peter, will become one-way with short-term parking and delivery zones. These changes aim to reduce traffic congestion and illegal parking.
Queen Street, starting from the junction at Chapel Street, along with Orange Street, and Sand Street will be all one-way in a northerly direction. Goddings Alley onto Chapel Street will remain one-way, however motorists can no longer enter Chapel Street from the KNR Husbands Highway. Major Walk will continue to have two-way traffic and Church Street will remain one-way. There will be no entry onto Sand Street from Highway 1B.
Designated two-hour maximum parking spaces, and 30-minute delivery zones will be allocated along Queen Street, Orange Street, and Sand Street. Road markings and signage will be installed to guide motorists.
Deputy Chief Technical Officer of Design Services of the Ministry of Transport, Works and Water Resources (MTWW), Jason Bowen, indicated that the MTWW had spent a significant amount of time examining the challenges within Speightstown. He said Queen Street, Orange Street, and Sand Street experienced problems daily, such as illegal parking and double parking.
“The roads in Speightstown are very narrow and that further complicates the situation…. The roads are actually two-way in flow, so when people park, this narrows the roads further and that creates problems for movement. We developed a number of solutions to help deal with these issues; with these measures we expect an improvement to traffic flows and improved parking for patrons and citizens of Speightstown,” Mr. Bowen said.
Minister of Labour, Social Security and Third Sector, Colin Jordan, who is also the Parliamentary Representative for St. Peter, said traffic flow challenges in Speightstown, particularly along Queen Street, have impacted businesses, vendors, residents and pedestrians.
Mr. Jordan pointed out: “There are businesses that need to get deliveries; people want to stop to buy something quickly, and it has become very difficult for people…, and so we recognise that there is a challenge that needs to be addressed. In more recent times, there are visitors who just want to go on the boardwalk and the tour buses have no place to allow those persons to disembark the buses without being reported.”
He urged persons to be patient and give the changes a time to work. “There is going to be signage, and from time to time, there may be officers who will be giving directions. Let us not believe that it will go smoothly from the beginning but I encourage you to follow the signage and we will all see the improvement to Speightstown that we’ve always wanted,” Minister Jordan said.
Owner of the Orange Street Grocer, Nick Vieira, who also outlined some of the current challenges, said he was grateful for the traffic flow changes.
“The coaches who are trying to bring business into the town, they’re constantly being asked to move or keep rolling because they’re also parking illegally. As of last winter season, several of the coaches decided that they were not coming to Speightstown any longer because it was too much of a hassle. So, we the businesses have suffered tremendously. So, I applaud the government for accepting this challenge and actually moving forward with it to enable a smoother transition for what Speightstown is to become,” he said.
Owner of the Fisherman’s Pub, Clement Armstrong, said he was willing to give the new traffic flow changes a chance. “Speightstown is a big town to manage; 75 per cent of the people who get reported in Speightstown are tourists. Some of the tour buses don’t come just to park; it’s to use the bathroom facilities…. A man came by my shop and offloaded 12 tourists and they came and reported him… We are running people away. That is not good for tourism,” he lamented.
MTWW encourages motorists to follow the instructions of the new signage and road markings in Speightstown, and thanks road users for their cooperation. For more information on the traffic flow changes in Speightstown, persons may visit the Ministry’s Facebook and Instagram pages @mtwbarbados.