Guardian ( Trinidad and Tobago )
04 September 2023 ( Page 6 )
Point Fortin gets highway access in time for school
KEVON FELMINE SENIOR REPORTER
KEVON.FELMINE@GUARDIAN.CO.TT
Motorists and commuters from Point Fortin and its environs will hopefully
shave off 20 minutes from their travel to San Fernando as the Ministry of
Works and Transport (MOWT) partially opens the La Brea to Rousillac
segment of the Solomon Hochoy Highway Extension to Point Fortin this
morning.
Motorists can use both carriageways between the Southern Main Road,
Vance River and Grant’s Road, Rousillac.
A section of the Point Fortin Highway extension at Grant’s Road,
Rousillac, which will be opened to the public today. PICTURE KRISTIAN
DE SILVA
However, they must divert into a single-lane route on the Eastern
carriageway between Grant’s Road and Mon Desir.
During a visit to the project in La Brea yesterday, Minister of Works and
Transport Rohan Sinanan said road-users will have access to the highway
from Point Fortin all the way to San Fernando, with a few diversions by
month-end.
Sinanan said the Ministry promised taxi drivers and Point Fortin
constituents that they would get more highway access before the new
school year began.
Therefore, he oversaw final works such as painting and signage
installations.
“Basically, what we were hearing from the taxi drivers was it normally
takes an hour and a half to get down to La Brea and then onto Point Fortin.
It will make the journey just about 20 minutes.
If you look, you will see it is just over an hour because of the access to the
highway. Taxi drivers seem to welcome that. I know the commuters will
welcome that,” Sinanan said.
Sinanan said motorists might feel tempted to exceed the speed limit on
the world-class road but urged them to obey the law.
The Ministry aims to open the final Vance River to Point Fortin leg around
September 30, but there are two spots where motorists must shift.
Motorists will continue to divert onto the Southern carriageway at a failed
section of Mosquito Creek, South Oropouche, as the Ministry of Works and
Transport finalises plans to rehabilitate the road.
“We hope to have that solution confirmed within the next month, and
once that is confirmed, that piece will continue, but work is ongoing on
the creek as we speak.”
Once the route reaches Point Fortin, motorists must return to the
Southern Main Road for a five-minute drive before re-entering the
highway, as the Ministry has to bypass a BP pipeline along the right of
way.
Sinanan believes it would take about 20 minutes between San Fernando
and Point Fortin, compared to the 90 and 105 minutes commuters face
now.
There is another BP line passing through the right of way of the highway,
coming from Fyzabad to Mon Desir, which Sinanan says has a solution and
will finish soon.
Sinanan said the Solomon Hochoy Highway Extension to Point Fortin is 98
per cent complete, with nine of 12 packages done.
Due to COVID-19 delays, contractors filed claims for downtime, but the
project remains within its $7 billion budget. Regarding the controversial
Debe to Mon Desir leg, Sinanan said it was not the focus.
The Minister said the highway was a plan for approximately 45 years and
started in 2011 with significant complications.
Several shutdowns, contractor dismissals and COVID-19 restrictions
delayed the project for two and a half years.
After completing the highway, Sinanan said the Ministry will rehabilitate
the Southern Main Road.
Photo: A section of the Point Fortin Highway extension at Grant’s Road,
Rousillac, which will be opened to the public today. PICTURE KRISTIAN
DE SILVA