The contract for the construction of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)-funded US$24 million Sheriff Street- Mandela Avenue Expansion Project is likely to be tendered by August next year.
Following the tendering of the contract, the project in its entirety is expected be completed 30 months from the time works commence, Tech Services Manager with the Public Works Ministry Rabindranauth Chandarpal announced on Wednesday evening.
This information was provided by Chandarpal to a group of over 30 stakeholders – residents and business owners along the Mandela Avenue/ Sheriff Street corridor–at the North Ruimveldt Multilateral Secondary School, as he explained to them how the suggestions that were made in previous consultations were included in the project’s design.
The ministry, in collaboration with a professional consultant hired by the IDB, has conducted over 20 consultations with stakeholders, as it sought to have the concerns of the stakeholders influence the design as much as is allowable. He told Stabroek News yesterday that Wednesday’s consultation, the last of three held this week, was the final one on the project’s design, but noted that there will be another round of consultations once work begins.
The design of the project has changed significantly since the initial one was drawn due to the input of stakeholders and tweaks initiated by the ministry. The design presented to the stakeholders Wednesday night was the final draft.
The entire corridor, from where Sheriff Street intersects with the Rupert Craig Highway, to where Mandela Avenue meets the East Bank Highway, was initially to be a four-lane road, but this will no longer be the case. Concerns expressed by the business community operating along Sheriff Street saw the ministry abandoning their plans to make the road into a four-lane road. Business owners had said that such an expansion would bring the road too close to their establishments, and that they were not particularly fond of that idea.
Instead, Sheriff Street will remain a two-lane road, but will be fitted with designated bicycle lanes as well as sidewalks on both sides. Additionally, the ministry will make provisions for parallel and inverted parking at different sections along the road. Motorists will be able to parallel park from Drury Lane to Stone Avenue, and diagonally on the areas North of Drury Lane.
One stakeholder had suggested the use of parking meters to regulate the parking that will take place along the corridor, but since Guyana does not have the necessary legislation to allow such a system to be implemented this recommendation could not be placed into the design.
Plans to make the section of Mandela Avenue that runs from east to west a four-lane road were also dashed and replaced with plans for a three-lane road. This move resulted from the ministry’s revision of the traffic arrangement that it desired. Chandarpal said that the more the ministry looked at the design, the more it became apparent that four lanes on the east to west section of the corridor would be difficult to pull off.
If sidewalks are to be installed on the residential section of the road, and designated bicycle lanes are to be fitted on both sides of the road, one lane had to be taken out. Now, one lane will take traffic from the north to south section of Mandela Avenue to the East Bank Highway, and instead of waiting on a light, traffic in this lane will be able to turn on to the highway unimpeded.
Disability friendly
Several of the features included in the project have been included with persons with disabilities in mind. The sidewalks throughout the corridor will be fitted with a variation of rumble strips, which will enable the blind to know where in the structure they are, thereby allowing them to successfully navigate it. The sidewalks will also be accessible to those who use wheelchairs. The project will also see vibrating traffic lights being installed. As such, someone who is blind will be able to touch the traffic light and know when they are supposed to cross. These same lights will also give auditory cues for those who prefer not to use the vibrating feature.
Chandarpal said that the ministry is also hoping to have buttons installed on the traffic lights so that persons can activate the stop and walk signals as they desire. The traffic lights will also have special time considerations to allow persons who use walking aids, the pregnant, and the disabled to cross at their leisure. One stakeholder, a blind woman, told the consultants that it would be nice to have something fitted to the sidewalk that would tell her and others like her when they are close to an intersection.
Meanwhile, traffic from the East Bank Highway turning on to Mandela Avenue will be able to use two lanes all the way to the north to south section of the Highway. The only section of the corridor that will become a four-lane road, in keeping with the initial designs, is the north to south section.
The overhead walkway that is to be installed between the East and North Ruimveldt Multilateral Secondary Schools is also a product of consultations, having been suggested by a concerned resident. Chandarpal said that the rationale for the walkway is that minibus drivers and other such motorists, as they are coming off the “backroad,” may not have adequate time to see the school children who usually congregate on the road in front of the schools, and cross the road to get home.
He said that since the road will be improved, the likelihood exists that children and other pedestrians will be hit by careless drivers. The overhead walkways will enable children, and whoever else is desirous of using the structure, to cross the road above the moving traffic.
Meanwhile, where drainage is concerned, the ministry said that though it has drawn into the plan a drainage system which adheres to the typical specs for such a project, it believes that a more robust system may be needed. This re-consideration is a result of the increased rainfall that has been plaguing the city recently.
The expansion project will also include pedestrian crossings, bus stops, and improved lighting through the length of the corridor. Some things that will not change are the speed limit, and the ban on vending on the sidewalks. Chandarpal said that though the roads will be less congested, the speed-limit throughout the corridor will remain 50 kmph. He also said that vending will not be tolerated on any of the sidewalks.
The side streets along the corridor will also remain unchanged since attempts to secure funding from the IDB to improve these roads were unsuccessful. There is, however, a plan for stakeholders to lobby the government to provide funding for such upgrades in next year’s budget.
