Traffic changes in St Bess
Published:Thursday | November 27, 2014 | 1:09 PMLauntia Cuff
SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth:
AS THE Christmas season approaches, major towns tend to become more congested. To help reduce this congestion each year, the Santa Cruz police have implemented traffic changes to ease the flow through the town.
Corporal Albert Simpson, sub-officer with responsibility for traffic in Santa Cruz, said motorists will see changes by the second week in December.
?The town will be reduced to one-way traffic and we are working on the starting date to be December 8,? Simpson said.
?The traffic light at Retirement Road, Wanstead Road and Main Street, there will be a barrier there. Persons coming from the Lacovia direction will not be able to proceed through the town. They will have to turn left on Wanstead (the bypass) Road. So from the traffic light, to the light at the intersection of Main Street, Coke Drive and Institution Drive, will be a one-way.
?Persons coming up Market Street can only make a right turn; persons coming down Coke Drive can only make a left turn. Persons coming up Institution Drive can make a right, or left, on to Main Street, but can?t go across on to Coke Drive.
?Persons coming out of side roads [should] ensure they follow the changes because it is a one-way, they will be occupying the entire road,? Simpson told The Gleaner.
He went on to say that the changes will help to limit incidents of ?Christmas crimes?.
?It reduces the congestion in the town and also curbs what we refer to as the Christmas crimes, because less congestion serves as a deterrent to pickpockets. They tend to [rely] on the crowd to cover their tracks.
?A lot of police personnel will be dispatched through the town of Santa Cruz for the festive season,? Simpson added.
He said the recently opened transportation centre was an asset for easing the flow of traffic as taxi operators were no longer on the streets. He said,
however, that the police still had some difficulty with operators plying routes to the north side of the parish.
Simpson went on to appeal to the St Elizabeth Parish Council for speedy installation of lights in the transportation centre.
The other major towns of Black River and Junction will not see any major traffic changes.