Downtown traffic worsens as Xmas nears

Dust, construction, and potholes have been plaguing downtown Belize City for months. And with the increase in vehicles due to Christmas shopping and the frequent street closures as the Ministry of Works prepares for paving, driving through Albert and Regent Streets has become an even bigger nightmare. Today News Five spoke with Senior Traffic Officer, Glen Rivero, and asked if any reprieve is in sight.

Glen Rivero, Senior Officer, Traffic Department
“The flow of traffic yes has been interrupted for short periods and this will continue to happen at this time also because of the urgency of getting the street fixed and put together. Every year the amount of vehicles in the city increase so every Christmas season you will find that traffic starts to flow slower and slower because of the magnitude of vehicles. People, drivers, on a whole will have to divert to some of the streets that they are not used to driving. Like if they are coming up from Cemetery unto Orange Street; instead of taking directly Orange Street, you look at it and divert unto King Street that will bring you also downtown. So this is one of the formula that we will try and introduce to the public and divert from time to time. Other than that we will increase on our staff and our time in working.”

Duane Moody
“So how long are people going to go through this tedious traffic flow and all of that? For how long, how much more, how much longer?”

Glen Rivero
“What I can say is that you will see the difference come Monday. There will be a difference in traffic flow and onwards until the Christmas holidays and beyond.”

Drivers are also advised that during the course of the weekend, various sections of Regent Street will be closed to traffic as it is being prepped for the upcoming paving.