Much has been written about town planning (or lack of) and what should be done to alleviate the daily traffic nightmare. I had the misfortune to be on Bay Street on Saturday morning in the bumper to bumper mess that is downtown, where pedestrians and motorists roll the dice to cross an intersection. I was deeply relieved to make it out of the area without being rear-ended or hit by a car dashing from the waterfront.
Those motorists who have to leave work heading for the Eastern district between 4:30pm and 6:30pm can expect to spend at least an hour in bumper to bumper traffic and most people blame this crawl home on the fish emporium (commonly known as "the Montague Ramp"). Town planning has decided however, that this is not acceptable. It should be longer. I say this because I have been reliably informed that a ferry depot is being constructed on Bay Street opposite the Harbour Bay shopping centre. Perhaps they will suggest that some motorists take an alternate route home as they did before work started on the Mackey Street and Shirley Street intersection, never mind that there is no alternate route. I called a friend this morning who has sat in on meetings at Town Planning and I asked him if common sense was a requirement to be on the Board. His answer was very succinct. "No!"
This blogger is aware of three traffic consultant groups hired by Government over the past twenty years, at great expense I am sure. We must be due for another one. To what purpose however, if Government is going to ignore their suggestions and Town Planning is going work against them.
Someone has suggested that we will have to follow the example of Mexico where motorists can only use their cars on alternate days using the odd-numbered plates and even numbered plates as a guide. That would not work either because all those students who have "graduated from high school with a D minus grade would not know the difference.
