Bus route opens to public; blimp to monitor traffic

Trinidad and Tobago's Priority Bus Route (PBR) is now open to the public during off peak hours as a three-month pilot project to determine whether the plan will ease traffic congestion in and out of the capital, Port of Spain.

Works and Transport Minister Jack Warner opened the highway to private vehicles at a simple ceremony Thursday morning. The measure is one of his top priorities for getting traffic moving.

During the three months private vehicles with a minimum of three occupants can use the roadway on weekdays until six in the morning and again between 8.30 am and 2.30 pm.

The ministry will also use a $15 MILLION national security blimp for sky patrols of the PBR, which runs from Port-of-Spain and Arima.

The Manning administration bought the blimp for use by the Special Anti-Crime Unit (SAUTT) in 2006.

The People's Partnership had said the Manning government had used the blimp to spy on people and pledged to remove it from service.

However the traffic duty is an interim measure to monitor traffic movement only. The blimp has infra-red cameras and accommodates up to five officers who will provide surveillance and communicate with police and licensing officers on the ground about the movement of the traffic. The blimp patrols won't operate on the weekend.

Warner called the project a "progressive move", that is part of a long-term plan for the East/West Corridor.

"It is an attempt to relieve the traffic problems on the East/West Corridor in the short term, and, in the long term we have to remove the traffic lights on the highways from Port-of-Spain to Arima, put overpasses, and of course, extend the highway from Arima to Wallerfield," he told local media.

Warner said Government will study the results of the traffic flow during the three-month trial and then decide whether it would continue with the project, curtail it or extend the measure.