Letter of the Day | Lack of proper signs posing danger on Southern Coastal Highway

THE EDITOR, Madam:

As a resident of St Thomas who daily traverses the Southern Coastal Highway, I am increasingly fearful of using the Harbour View to Albion leg due to the reluctance of China Harbour Engineering Company Limited (CHEC) and the National Works Agency (NWA) to provide adequate signage to indicate the side/lane of the dual carriageway that should be accessed by drivers.

Initially, it became commonplace for the contractor to use two lanes on a side of the dual carriageway to move traffic in either direction. Over time, as four lanes became usable and according to road works, the contractor would occasionally divert traffic to a specific lane, using signage, barriers and/or persons with flags.

However, it is this occasional usage of noticeable directional signage along the highway that has caused drivers to be uncertain about which lane or side of the highway to use. It is not uncommon for drivers to be going into the wrong lane, resulting in traffic jams and near misses from oncoming traffic on the highway. This is more noticeable during early mornings, evenings and weekends, when the contractors are absent. Recently, the contractors have made the four lanes more accessible, and the situation is even more confusing and dire.

On Sunday, December 3, my family and I were travelling from St Thomas towards Kingston and had the misfortune of having three near misses between Albion and the Sun Coast Development, Bull Bay, because drivers were using any left lane available to move to and from St Thomas. I stopped in Bull Bay and indicated my concern to a CHEC worker of Chinese descent and his response was, “Everything finish in one month.”

I am beginning to realise that neither CHEC or NWA cares. Dare I suggest the increased use of proper signage to these ‘professionals’.

If people are unable to understand what I have written, it is because it is difficult to adequately explain the confusion on the Southern Coastal Highway and the daily stress of having fast-moving motor vehicles heading in one’s path.

Non-consensual Southern

Coastal Highway Crash

Dummy