Arch work causing traffic chaos on East Coast

A driver trying to manoeuvre his car off the road and onto the grass in order to get past the long traffic lines yesterday.

Traffic is moving at a snail’s pace along the East Coast corridor, as contractors work towards erecting an Arch at Cummings Lodge on the Rupert Craig Highway.

Traffic backed up in a Cummings Lodge street today

Roads between  Liliendaal and Industry on the Rupert Craig Highway have been closed off to accommodate the assembling of the Arch at Cummings Lodge on the East Coast of Demerara. Traffic police  have been seen diverting traffic, from the Highway onto the  Railway embankment. Those points of diversion have been, from Liliendaal/Turkeyen  to the embankment through the University of Guyana  Road and Ogle/Industry being diverted onto the embankment through cross streets. Drivers were seen manoeuvring through roads in these villages just to escape from the heavy build-up on the Embankment, which goes as far back as Plaisance.  There is also a heavy build- up of traffic aback of Sophia, the Road which runs East to West, behind the University of Guyana. There were no traffic officers at this point.

The arch being erected

The traffic chaos has been compounded by the fact that a major bridge is being repaired at Liliendaal on the embankment road and as a result there is no free flow of traffic. Questions have been raised about why the arch work had to be done today.

The backed up traffic on the East Coast (Keno George photo)