By Mia Anthony
Residents of Lamaha Gardens in Georgetown, particularly in the area of Garnett Street and Bel Air Avenue, have voiced concerns to Mayor Alfred Mentore about the significant increase in traffic disrupting their once serene community.
In response, Mentore on Wednesday conducted a roadside meeting with residents to assess the situation.
“This area is a residential zone, and it has conveyances that bind the transport,” Mentore informed as he expressed concern that diverted traffic passing through Lamaha Gardens is damaging the roads.
Observations by Stabroek News confirmed the presence of numerous heavy-duty trucks navigating the streets. A large sinkhole, reportedly caused by these trucks, was seen on the side of the road, trapping cars. Addi-tionally, many vehicles were observed bottoming out on the pot-holed road.
Residents expressed dismay at the disruption caused by the increased traffic, noting that the vibrations from the heavy trucks have started to cause cracks to appear in the walls of their homes, compounding the road damage issues.
During the community meeting, Mentore suggested that the residents approach the Mayor & City Council and lobby to have the neighbourhood become either a gated community or erect some sort of roadblock that does not allow for the trucks and such heavy traffic to navigate its roads freely.
Stabroek News spoke to a few residents who shared their experiences. One resident, Ms Rockcliffe, who has lived in Lamaha Gardens for over 50 years, shared, “earlier this year a number of residents wrote to the Minister of Home Affairs and [Minister of] Public Works to …do something about the traffic in Lamaha Gardens. At that point there were about 5,000 vehicles moving through here in a 12-hour period which is way too much for a residential area”. She added that the speeding is also a nuisance which is “ridiculous,” given the fact that the area is not on a main road. Further, the trucks that pass through the streets daily cause her home to shake. “The vibrations are ridiculous,” she said, adding that all residents are being negatively affected and the homes within the area are now being devalued.
Mr Ali another resident stated, “Well Lamaha Gardens has been as a residential community since the early 60s when the civil servants had acquired this land and as they retired they were able to obtain a lot in this area. It is a residential area [and] our rules and regulations dictate that we conduct ourselves as a residential community with conditions such as no business, no trading, [and] no animals are to reared or kept in this area, yet over the years, despite of all the attempts we have made to have these matters corrected, we continue to have these massive traffic flows through the area; we continue to have cattle, and all sorts of abuse of residential community life.” Reflect-ing on the early days as opposed to the current situation, he said residents could have walked through the community in peace, “now we are afraid to come out of our houses because not only is traffic a burden to us, [but] crime has increased significantly. People are roaming this area day and night and residents have to lock themselves into their houses at night.”
The resident lamented that the traffic build-up is repeated along Eastern Highway, Garnett Street, and Duncan Street. “This no longer a residential community it is more like a cattle track.” Ali noted that the members of the community have raised the matter with all the relevant authorities but still nothing is being done. As such, he and all the other community members have concluded that something needs to change as soon as possible.
Mentore promised to lobby the city council and the central government to have something done about the situation.
