Dear Editor,
The traffic on Sheriff Street has gone from bad to worse. Many of us thought that with the recent upgrade, the traffic buildup on Sheriff Street would have been something of the past, especially between Duncan Street and David Street. However, we have been disappointed.
I had always known Sheriff Street to be a four lane road. When the widening of the road was in progress, I was expecting two or three lanes on each carriageway, but the road between Duncan Street and David Street has now become a one-lane per carriageway road. The traffic build up has become uglier. Thanks to our urban planners, if we happen to have any. Valuable space that could have been wisely utilized have been wasted with the inappropriate markings on the road.
Let us take for example, the bicycle lane. How many people with bicycle use Sheriff Street? Our cities are nowhere close to Shanghai or Stockholm. Yes we are now travelling a lot, and we are fascinated by the orderliness and discipline of other societies, and when we return we want to implement some of the things we see during out foreign visits, but every country is unique in respect of its culture and behaviour.
A lot of employees in European towns do use bicycles to go to work. They work in offices, sitting down all day, and they see cycling to and from work as a means of keeping fit. Yes, there are also genuine concerns for the environment too. When they ride on the roadway, they ride at a fast pace, and there are many of them during certain hours. The few cycles on our roads are ridden mostly by men with weeding machines, or men carrying a bottle of water or a bottle of cooking gas, and they are usually seen cruising. The number of cyclists on the road at any given time is not significant. Most of the day you can find vehicles parked on the bicycle lane.
The bicycle lane snakes around bus stops that are placed 5-10 feet off the curb. The meandering markings on the road make it very difficult to comply with as road users navigate their way in heavy traffic. I have seen similar markings in other countries, but they are not in busy congested areas. These meandering styles of road markings are only found in suburban neighbourhoods, not busy roads like Sheriffs Street.
My suggestion for Sheriff Street between Duncan Street and David Street is a road consisting of 5 lanes – 2 straight lanes on the eastern carriageway, 2 straight lanes on the western carriageway, and a lane in the centre that can be used for either right or left turning. What is so difficult to visualize how smooth and helpful this layout would be? I have messaged this to the Minister before the big mess was made in the allocation of space for vehicular traffic. Nobody listens. With 5 lanes, there will still be plenty of room left for pedestrians, parking, grass cutting cyclists, and so on.
Sincerely,
Fazal Gafoor
