The first of several planned traffic diversions downtown took effect Tuesday as part of the next stage of the George Town Revitalisation Initiative for enhancing the central business district.
Starting at 11am, Tuesday motorists should exercise caution when travelling along Edward Street, Main Street, Cardinall Avenue and Dr. Roy’s Drive as the first traffic diversion will be in place, the Ministry of Planning, Agriculture, Housing, Infrastructure, Transport & Development and the National Roads Authority has announced.
The traffic change is part of Phase Two of the ongoing enhancement of George Town and will take about six months, a joint ministry and NRA press release said Friday.
“This next phase includes upgrades to underground infrastructure on Edward Street, Main Street, Fort Street and Shedden Road, to be carried out by Caribbean Utilities Company… and the start of overground enhancements to Edward Street, Main Street and the George Town Post Office intersection, led by the [project] contractor, Robson Construction,” the release said.
The first stage of Phase Two was completed last year and, once this current stage is finished, it will connect Phase One, the pedestrianisation of Cardinall Avenue.
It will also connect Phase Three, which is slated to include further underground and overground enhancements to Main Street.
“After weeks of operational planning and finalising orders for materials, we are excited to remobilise next week. [The Central Business District Enhancement Project] is big in scale and big in impact for the revitalisation of our capital and we would like to thank the George Town community for their continuous support of this project,” said Colin Lumsden, George Town Manager and Revitalisation Initiative coordinator.
The full schedule of works has been made in consultation with the project’s key stakeholders, including the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service, the Cayman Islands Fire Service, the Cayman Islands Health Services Authority, the Public Transport Unit and the Department of Public Safety Communications, the release said.
It has been broken down into sub-phases to “help facilitate a smooth roll-out and the least disruption to local businesses, residents and the public at each stage”.
Dennis Harris, senior manager – project management of the Public Works Department, said each stage has been “meticulously reviewed” by the NRA’s team of engineers, who have studied the flow of traffic around town and trialled each diversion route.
PWD is providing project management of the project.
“The Traffic Diversion Plan mimics the schedule of works and incorporates coning rather than fencing so that the teams can move through each work area swiftly and with little disruption,” Harris said.
The full schedule of diversions for the coming months is available for download on the George Town Revitalisation Initiative website.
Related Videos
