-by Kimberly Giddings

Public Works Minister, Bishop Juan Edghill, has made clear that government will not compromise on road safety. He warned that barriers will be erected to prevent developers from encroaching on the Ogle to Eccles highway with unsafe access routes and endangering motorists.

While inspecting the Ogle to Eccles Road project, Minister Edghill highlighted a potentially dangerous situation. He noted that housing developers have been creating unsafe access routes to connect to the highway, some with dangerous 90-degree entry points. This creates a danger for motorists travelling at high speeds.

“A permission to do a development does not mean recklessness in the use of the roadway or a highway while the development was being done. The cabinet and the government don’t represent that. So everybody have to comply,” he said.

The minister said developers were previously summoned and instructed to submit designs showing how their projects would safely access the highway. While several have complied, others have failed to do so. As a result, he says decisive action will now be taken and barriers erected.

“People are going to die here if they continue to drive out like that. The Traffic Chief has been engaged on the matter,” the minister informed.

Edghill stressed that the highway was designed for high-speed travel and warned that trucks exiting directly into 80- kilometre-per-hour traffic pose a deadly risk. The minister says the measures are necessary to ensure public safety while work continues interlink, which will ultimately extend to Providence and improve traffic flow along the East Bank corridor. In the meantime, developers who have not submitted approved access designs will be barred from using the highway until safety requirements are met.