A parallel road to the Castries-Gros Islet Highway is in the works, with the proposed route extending from the Bois d’Orange Bridge to the Choc Roundabout and further connecting to the Grande Riviere Road.
Infrastructure Minister Stephenson King outlined the vision during a recent pre-Cabinet press conference, explaining that the new road would bypass the Flow compound, travel uphill, and descend into the Choc Valley.
Traffic congestion along the northern corridor remains a major issue for commuters, with long delays on the single-carriageway road network caused by a growing number of vehicles. Minister King emphasised that the government’s objective is to ease this congestion by introducing alternative routes, including the parallel highway from Choc to Gros Islet.
To address the immediate challenges, the government has allocated $8 million to repair the bypass road from Vieux Secrieux to Norbert. Minister King explained that this investment would ensure the road is functional and appealing to commuters.
“We will be spending almost $8 million there. To begin, we have already conducted all necessary surveys. We know where the road will go, how it will be developed, and where land has been acquired. The road will be widened, proper drainage will be installed, and it will be built to standard. We’ll provide a very attractive road that is wide enough for safe navigation,” King said.
In addition to the bypass, the government has an ambitious plan to expand the Julian R. Hunte Highway to include dual carriageways.
The project, which aims to reduce traffic on the main highway, will be executed in three phases: From the Choc Bridge to Marisule, then from Marisule to the Bois d’Orange Bridge, and finally from the Bois d’Orange Bridge to the Gros Islet Junction.
A commencement date for the expansion project has not yet been announced.
Keep on dreaming
Haste and desperation make king and his folks want to implement an old idea, opening up more lands for JQ Charles et al. Freshman class of traffic engineering school taught us that major capital works and road extensions must be the last resort. The root of the problem is being ignored.
Direct award to the usual? Do contractors give large donations for political campaigns? Does 1 plus 1 equal 2?
Lol..pie in the sky. Last year was year of infrastructure, why wasn’t it built then? Elections coming all kinds of promises.
Yawn. Slow news day
The parallel road is good but that won’t ease traffic. In order to ease traffic, the same resources there are in the north needs to be in Castries, View Fort, Soufrière .
That way people from Castries don’t have to go all the way to the north to conduct business and people in View Fort and Soufrière don’t have to come all the way to Castries to conduct business.
Develop the country in such a way that all the major towns have the resources to sustain its population. (Banks, malls, government buildings, etc etc)
Another alternative Saint Lucia might have to start looking into is water taxis from Castries to Anse la raye, Canaries View Fort, Soufrière .
Talk, talk, talk and more talk by a failed senior minister of infrastructure. Elections is on the horizon so we offer dreams to the electorate when the year of infrastructure was nothing but more deteriorating roads with a deficit in maintenance and repairs statement by the minister a couple weeks before.
How now he has a solution for the northern corridor malaise? Same old repeated suggestions that have been on the table before the construction of the so called dual go cart from Vigie roundabout to Choc.
Now money is available to improve.
I await the next announcement!
That will work like that hump in the road at SnS intersection! Sadly it will costs much much much much more! Imagine another parallel road to an existing backroad aka Morne Serpent Dame Pearlette school road! How many parallel roads we need? As long as traffic laws are not enforced, the problem will remain
Did he elaborate on the costlier price of fuel through these alternative route?….when will they stop fooling the ppl and actually do something worthy in the citizens interest.
@ George
You hit the nail center mass on the head.
Seriously? Another road that will never get finished. The Millennium Highway could do with finishing before you start another one, or maybe the name implies its going to take until the next millennium to finish it. Maybe just start by repairing some of the potholes
Please for a road map showing existing roads and the proposed road well detailed.
To fix the problem is simple..Fix the road that is there from Groseley to Dennery. You now eliminate the traffic problem in Castries..All traffic that is going north from the south,will not have to go thru town..Wake up.