Dear Editor,
As a frequent user of the Demerara Harbour Bridge, I suffer its inconveniences of crawling traffic at peak hours. However, I urge a reconsideration of the proposal to build a new bridge at this time, since the capacity of the present structure is grossly underutilized.
A measure of the capacity of a bridge can be the volume of traffic it can handle in a unit of time. The present structure has dramatically reduced this volume by constructing a retractor span that effectively has a ‘sleeping policeman’ at both ends. The capacity of the present bridge is therefore limited to the, say, 5 mph rate which those obstacles allow. Re-engineered to make possible 20 mph speeds across the retractor span would increase the capacity of the present bridge fourfold, and at a tiny fraction of the cost of a new bridge.
The huge resources required for a new bridge could be channelled to much higher priority national needs.
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address provided)
