Feasibility Study recommends three-lane bridge for Demerara River

A three-lane bridge for the Demerara River has been recommended in a Feasibility Study and Design for the New Demerara River Crossing. Released by the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, the Feasibility Study states that if funding can be found a three-lane bridge is recommended as most suitable to serve the traffic demand in the coming decade.

However, it pointed out that if funding can only be found for a two-lane bridge, selecting a two-lane configuration implies higher vulnerability for accidents and traffic congestion. It has been pointed out that intersections and linking road should have higher capacity to serve traffic demand than the bridge. As such the bridge is the highest investment and should therefore be used most efficiently.

Added to this the study revealed that in the far future a second bridge is advised above over-dimensioning the first bridge, giving more redundancy, allowing better distribution of the traffic over the region and spread economic developments. “We also recommend to implement measures to reduce traffic growth by public transport as speedboat ferries and minibuses,” the Study outlines.

The traffic forecast assumes that the existing road network is kept on the present level. If not extended or improved, the new bridge may give a slight improvement but traffic congestion will not be resolved on mid and long term.

As such it was noted that Government is preparing the Project of the eastern bypass road on the East Bank, connecting Diamond with Ogle. This bypass will reduce traffic from the East Bank Public Road. It is considered that the existing east and west bank roads including Vreed-en-Hoop cannot be significantly improved further. As a result links are needed to better connect the bridge to town centre and the west bank connections.