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.