More Belize City street upgrades and less diversions

In a decade of what some may call inactivity and decaying infrastructure, Mayor Darrell Bradley is adding his personal touch to the city’s landscape. Instead of constructing unsightly signs with names of donors, as has been done in the past, the mayor is concreting streets that have fallen apart. The ongoing work which has to be done in conjunction with Belize Water Services, has led to a maze for some residents to drive from one road block to another. But earlier today the mayor outlined his deadline for completion of these projects as well as the start of new ones.

Darrell Bradley, Belize City Mayor

Darrell Bradley

“The major stumbling block right now in terms of traffic flow is Freetown Road. I thinkt hat a lot of the gridlock is caused as a result of lot of the works on Freetown Road and some of the minor roads can’t handle the amount of traffic. Essentially, the project on Freetown Road is supposed to be finished—the main part of Freetown Road will be finished by next week Friday and that road then will be completely open. Another area of disturbance would be caused because the Freetown Road Project calls for the resurfacing of the roundabout. And we are looking at designs and putting additional traffic officer out there because when that work starts—and it should start within the next week—when that work starts it will not be disrupted. At the present moment, the main area of Freetown between the roundabout and St. Thomas; a section of that road is closed and that is one of the main arteries of the City. That of course, naturally, will cause disruption. That is supposed to be open by next week Friday. But when we go on to the roundabout then that again will cause another mishap. That will take about fifteen days for us to complete along with the Northern Highway project. Then we also have another project that we are working with along the stretch of Princess Margaret Drive; in front of the Princess Hotel. We started works at the intersection of Barrack Road and Newtown Barracks. And that project is to go all the way up to where Bowen and Bowen now has their new restaurant. And essentially what we want to do is either concrete or stamp-crete that road and enhance it for tourism purposes. And we are going to go all the way around Princess Margaret Drive and to meet up to the Northern Highway roundabout. But we are not going to do the whole road, we are only going to do those pockets that are very bad and we are going to upgrade that with ordinary concreting. And then one of the other projects that we starting to accelerate and talk about in great details. When we do this Princess Margaret Drive Stretch, then we will also incorporate the beach that we had always talked about doing. And that area should be substantially enhanced with the road and with a new public space which will be the B.T.L. Beach now.”

The City Council also intends to put to use the overpass at the junction in front of the flag monument.