Hopewell Transport Centre to get upgrade

WESTERN BUREAU:

The Hopewell Transport Centre, in Hanover, which has been underutilised for several years, could soon see significant upgrade work to the existing structure to allow for the venue to be recognised as a start and termination point for trips by operators of public passenger vehicles (PPV).

This follows a site visit and subsequent request to the Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC) by the Transport Authority (TA) for a list of areas to be improved at the centre.

At present, the operators of public transport are engaged in a free-for-all in the Hopewell town centre. This results in a daily traffic congestion, especially during morning and afternoon peak hours for commuter travel.

According to the TA, once the transportation centre is brought up to an acceptable standard, the licence of PPV operators will be amended to have them start and terminate their trips inside the transportation centre. The current licences state that the transport operator should terminate their trips in Hopewell. The regulation does not name/identify a specific location.

Lucea Mayor Sheridan Samuels said he met with officials of the TA recently which identified several areas for focus/requirements to help transform the transportation centre.

“For a while now, we (have) had concerns about the lack of use of the transportation centre by PPV operators. We wrote to them (TA), telling them that we would want the centre to be properly utilised to ease the traffic congestion within Hopewell,” said Samuels. “They came and we met with them, and they did a site visit. They wrote back to us outlining their requirements.”

PLANS ON HOLD

Samuels said among the requirements the TA outlined were: a better driving surface; extending the driving lanes; a proper drainage system; the erection of bus sheds, and better bathroom facilities.

While the HMC has had plans in place to put in some commercial shops at the transportation centre, Samuels said all the HMC’s plans will be put on hold as the corporation seeks to carry out the works needed to meet the TA requirements.

“Because of the traffic situation in Hopewell, we would want to ensure that we put in those required infrastructures before we actually start to allocate shop space,” said Samuels. “Persons are going to get some shop space, but at the same time, we have to prepare the facility for what it was originally intended for – a transportation centre.”

Superintendent Sharon Beeput, the police commander for Hanover, has been lobbying for the transport centre to be used as a part of the effort to regulate traffic flow in Hopewell and says she is pleased that her calls have found favour with the HMC and TA.

“We will now be in a better position to manage the flow of traffic in that area. It has been a longstanding concern to us, so once the transport centre is ready, we will be in a position to reduce the congestion in the town centre,” said Beeput.

While the HMC is fully on board with the requirements of the TA, the mayor did not give a specific timeline as to when the work will be completed but intimated that it would be given priority attention.