GRAND
CAYMAN, Cayman Islands –
Premier Hon.
Alden McLaughlin,Minister
of Infrastructure Hon.
Joey Hew,
National Roads Authority (NRA) Board Chairman John Ebanks and other
representatives of the NRA recently (on Friday, October 18) toured
and inspected ongoing road works in several areas of the Red Bay and
Prospect communities in Grand Cayman.

The
roads included Selkirk Drive and Abbey Way where NRA’s work crew is
raising the level of the road two and half feet above sea level,
adding drainage and paving the area. The team also visited Shamrock
Road where the lane flow is being reversed to have two west bound
lanes and one lane heading east.

At
the Red Bay roundabout, a third west bound lane is being added to
take motorists directly to South Sound.

Following
the visit,
Premier Alden McLaughlin said the tour provided an opportunity to
look at the road works being done to address some of the
traffic
issues as quickly as possible as well as some of the longer term work
being employed to resolve the traffic congestion from the Eastern
Districts.

“I
think
things are coming along quite well. They are currently regrading
Selkirk Drive, going all the way to Abbey Way and working on the
start of a third lane from the Red Bay roundabout to Hurley’s
roundabout at Grand Harbour,” he stated.

Minister
Hew
noted that some of the road works are designed to alleviate the
issues with traffic congestion in the mornings and evenings, in the
pinch points around the Hurley’s roundabout and the Prospect areas.

He
stated, “People
will see that we have paved a few areas, we have expanded a few more
lanes and we are working our hardest to minimise the amount of time
commuters have to spend in traffic”.

“We
have to appreciate and extend our gratitude to the Royal Cayman
Islands Police Service for the work that they have been doing over
the last couple of weeks in the mornings. We can all agree that it
has been a tremendous help in the morning commute but that is not
sustainable so we are here looking at some of the plans that we have
in the short, medium and long term to ease the challenges in the
mornings and in the evenings returning east,” Minister Hew said.

The
Minister also
stated that the long term goal is to get the East-West Arterial
extension completed up to Lookout Gardens, and that the Ministry
would continue discussions with the National Conservation Council to
do what is necessary to get their approval so that construction on
the road can proceed.

IMAGES:

Photo
1: Edward
Howard, Acting Managing Director NRA, Premier Hon. Alden McLaughlin,
Infrastructure Minister Hon. Joey Hew and other NRA representatives
look at a plan of the roads works in the Red Bay and Prospect
communities.

Photo
2:
Extensive road work is taking place on Selkirk Drive.