But, while that tactic is working as it should, part of the reason is that King Street is currently closed, and this forces all traffic to use South Street as the nearest avenue onto Regent Street.
This is just one of the areas affected by the street upgrades which are occurring all at the same time. While Mayor Bradley has received rave reviews for his diligence in trying to upgrade the city, he's also received some criticism for the aggressive nature which he has done so. It is often that motorists encounter unexpected closures while trying to divert to the free areas of the city, and it causes frustration.
Today, the mayor explained that the reason they've done so many in one location at a time is because they have a short tenure in office, and it makes logistics easier.
Darrel Bradley - Mayor of Belize City
"We have a lot of projects going on in the entire city at the same time and the reason why we're doing this is because we only have a very short period of time in office. Very shortly within two months we're going to come up with our midterm and we have indicated that we wanted to get all these projects done within the ending of this year so that it's not that we're saying that we want to interrupt people in terms of traffic for a long period of time. We want to aggressively finish off the projects well within our term in office so that people can enjoy a better city. A lot of works are going on in the downtown area because all of those works are related. For example we have contractors that are working on two streets at the same and the contractors are telling us that the mobilization cost are cheaper if you're working on the streets at the same time. The same grader that goes to one street then goes to the next street - so that if you're working on a street and to complete that street you have to move that equipment then you have to bring it back on to the street - that's an expense that they are saying they can save and that would be better for us. Because in terms of our tenure process that will go for a cheaper price for us so all of this has been taken into account - it's not that we are doing it in a haphazard way even if it looks like that - but we're actually planning it and we're trying to coordinate as best that we can including our traffic people to ensure that there is minimal inconveniences. But anytime you do works there will be inconveniences but we're trying to make sure that it's as minimal as possible."
Reporter
"By when do you expect that area to be completed?"
Darrel Bradley
"All the streets in that area we expect those go until probably November of this year and we're including Collet Canal, the entire length of King Street to the market - cruise now are on the other stretch, that's cemetery lane now between Pound Yard Bridge and where we did Orange Street - so we're doing all those streets and we're concreting all of those streets so you can access the downtown area so you can access it in a very easy way. North front street and New Road - those are causing delays but those will be finished within a month's period, we're also going to finish the approach to BelChina Bridge again. They've completed one half and now they're doing the other half - I expect that in a week and a half those will be done and as works are being completed you're going to have an easier flow in traffic."
