From 5 June, drivers exiting the Grand Harbour complex will no longer to be able to enter South Sound or Crewe Road from the roundabout, but instead must turn left onto Shamrock Road and then turn back at the next roundabout.
The National Roads Authority announced the new measure as a means to improve safety on the busy roundabout.
“As an urgent safety concern, the NRA has decided that it would be in the best interest of the public to close off the westbound right turn from Grand Harbour around the Century 21 Roundabout. Once the Edgewater Connector is complete the NRA will revisit this decision,” Edward Howard, managing director of the NRA, said in a statement.
The NRA stated that, with daily congestion and the ever-increasing number of cars on local roads, it had opted to close this lane of the roundabout in a bid to “improve public safety and reduce the risk of collision”.
The roundabout is a major bottleneck for traffic coming to and from the eastern districts during morning and evening rush hour.
Last month, the NRA completed a ‘corridor study’ that examined traffic flow onto the Grand Harbour roundabout, and presented the findings to Minister Jay Ebanks, whose remit includes transport. That study has not yet been released publicly.
At a public meeting in March to discuss the proposed environmental impact assessment of sections of the East-West Arterial extension, Ebanks said the corridor study outlined five options to help ease traffic jams in the Grand Harbour area.
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As I have said many times in this fine publication: we need a flyover (overpass) on this roundabout and the one at A L Thompsons.
I understand the concern but this is likely to just make it impossible to go to Grand Harbour area during peak hours or leave from the residential areas nearby or add 30+ minutes journey to sit in traffic in the stretch between Hurley’s and the next roundabout and will make that traffic even worse! Can they not consider putting a slip road higher up from Hurley’s between the Kings and Hurley’s roundabout coming from the little rosd near Harbour walk or Periwinkle area?
NRA caused this problem by put 4 line of traffic on the roundabout. They have also caused a serious issue by putting 1 line of traffic into 2 lines of traffic at the roundabout just before King’s Sport Center. It has made it very difficult and dangerous for residents exiting from Legacy Drive onto the roundabout. What problems will NRA cause next.