President Dr. Irfaan Ali on Tuesday afternoon visited the Versailles to Tuschen secondary road alignment where he outlined a major infrastructure initiative aimed at significantly reducing traffic congestion along the West Coast Demerara corridor.
During the site visit, the President said the project is designed to provide relief to commuters facing daily delays of up to three hours between La Jalousie and Tuschen.
“We understand the difficulty now between Ruimzeight and Tuschen and we are now going into the implementation phase,” President Ali said.
The initiative forms part of a wider transport infrastructure strategy linked to the ongoing four-lane highway expansion from Crane to Parika.
According to the President, while the new highway will improve regional connectivity, additional interventions are needed within existing communities to address severe traffic bottlenecks.
“We have massive traffic bottleneck now from La Jalousie to Tuschen. Heavy traffic that is causing two to three hours of delay every single day.”
The proposed alignment will utilise and expand sections of the existing housing scheme road network from Tuschen through Meten-Meer-Zorg, Cornelia Ida and other communities, eventually connecting to La Jalousie.
The project will involve the construction and upgrading of 36 bridges.
“We are hoping that in six to eight months, we can bring relief for the traffic coming from La Jalousie all the way to Tuschen,” he said.
The road will provide at least two lanes for lighter vehicles including cars, vans, taxis and SUVs, allowing heavy-duty traffic such as trucks and minibuses to remain on the existing public road.
The President noted that the alignment was carefully selected to pass through the center of rapidly expanding housing developments, improving access for thousands of new residents while easing pressure on the West Demerara public road.