A pedestrian walkover spanning 48 metres will finally be built for the safety of residents of Sea Lots, Port-of-Spain.
The sod turning ceremony will take place tomorrow by Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan and director of the Programme for Upgrading Road Efficiency (PURE) Hayden Phillip.
The walkover, which will be the longest in Trinidad, will be built in five months by Structural and Mechanical Agencies Ltd.
The moves come four years after six residents of Sea Lots, Port-of-Spain, were ploughed into by a car while walking on the west bound lane of the Beetham Highway which claimed the lives of 28-year-old Haydee Paul and her two daughters Akasha, seven, and Shakira, eight.
One of the three who survived the accident was Ryan Rampersad.
The February 2013 deaths triggered violent and fiery protests from angry residents who demanded a walkover and justice for the lives that were innocently taken.
In 2015, Rampersad, a father of two, who was left paralysed from his waist down was awarded by a court $800,000 in damages by the driver’s insurance company.
Following this tragedy, several other people also lost their lives while trying to cross the busy highway.
Yesterday, project engineer in charge of the walkover, Rhomel Castro, told the T&T Guardian that studies conducted by the Traffic Management Branch (TMB) showed that on a Sunday alone (between the hours of 8 am to 9 am) 289 people cross the highway between Pioneer Drive and Abattoir Road.
Castro admitted that as a temporary safety measure the TMB, in conjunction with PURE, had implemented two pedestrian crosswalks at the abattoir and Light House, as well as installed handrails and concrete barriers along the Beetham Highway from Production Drive to Broadway along the west bound lanes.
He, however, said that the widening of the Beetham Highway had increased the walking distance for pedestrians crossing the highway, which added to the danger posed by speeding vehicles.
Castro disclosed that construction of the 48-metre single span truss walkover will comprise structural steel, reinforced concrete, footings and ramps.
“This would eliminate pedestrian crossing phased at signalised intersection to ensure safety and efficient movement of people crossing the highway,” Castro said.
He gave the assurance that five- months project will not disrupt the flow of vehicles using the highway.
Castro said PURE will source labour from the community, but could not say how many.
Yesterday, Sinanan refused to give the cost of the walkover due to the fact the people have been extorting money from contractors.
“We are trying to avoid that. Once we put that out there certain elements are going to contractors and demanding money from them. We don’t want to put the lives of contractors at risk by putting the cost of projects out in the public domain.”
Sinanan said Nipdec did the tendering process and eight bidders sent in bids.
“This was the best bid they had gotten. It was within the budget they had catered for,” Sinanan said.
Sinanan said he fast tracked the project knowing that for four years this has been on the drawing board.
He said the walk over will be designed with a gradient to make it easier for the physically challenged.
“The alternative to that was to install an elevator. However, the experience with that was it cost a lot of money and they are frequently vandalised by people.”
