An overpass to divert the approximately 20,000 vehicles using the Diamond, East Bank Demerara (EBD) intersection every day is in the pipeline and will bring much needed relief to the congested road.
“There is a serious backup of traffic at Diamond and if you’re from Diamond you would know that you would have to leave your home at 6 in the morning to reach to town early,” Project Manager at the Ministry of Public Infrastructure Sunil Ganesh told Stabroek News on Thursday.
He revealed that the ministry did a traffic count, which showed that approximately 20,000 vehicles use the Diamond and East Bank intersection per day. Of the 20,000 vehicles, 10,000 either enter or exit Diamond Housing Scheme and some 8,000 travel to Georgetown. Ganesh explained that while there are other solutions such as constructing more entrances and exits to access the housing scheme, building an overpass is the most viable option.
He explained that the overpass is supposed to begin between First and Second Avenue, stretching across and around the canal that separates Diamond and Grove, over the East Bank Highway and end around School Street (about 100 metres from Diamond’s entrance on the western side of the road). The overpass, which is to be 7.5 metres high and about 6 metres wide, will accommodate all sizes of vehicles exiting the scheme and passing under it to travel south on the highway. He explained that with the overpass, traffic will be able to flow freely out of Diamond without interfering with the heavy traffic travelling north on the highway.
In addition to the vehicular overpass, Ganesh added, three pedestrian overpasses will be built at Houston, Eccles and the Demerara Harbour Bridge. The pedestrian overpasses will be 7.5 metres in height and 2 metres wide. “Around those areas we have a lot of school children and residents crossing the road,” he explained.
The four overpasses are being funded by the Inter-American Development Bank under the Road Improvement and Rehabilitation Programme and are expected to be finished 12 months after they are started.
Ganesh explained that the tendering for the project, which will be opened to both international and local contractors, will start within the next three weeks and construction should commence within the first quarter of the new year.
