Traffic flows smoothly as city's trench work begins
Morning traffic moved well yesterday despite trenching work going on throughout the City of Hamilton.
Secretary Edward Benevides, from the Corporation of Hamilton, said some members of the public were happy with the traffic flow. So much so they have suggested making it a permanent route into the city.
Morning commuters were expected to face delays yesterday after work to install water pipes and fibre optic cables began on Reid Street.
Spurling Hill was closed to traffic coming into the city; and motorists travelling into Hamilton along East Broadway were diverted along Front Street.
Yesterday Police and staff from the Corporation were on hand from 7.30 a.m. to 9.30 a.m. to instruct people on the new route. And Mr. Benevides monitored the level of traffic by driving in and out of Hamilton three times.
He said: "Traffic was fairly fast. There was nothing backing up either on Middle Road or East Broadway. There were even some gaps in traffic. It just went very well."
"There weren't any delays that we could discern. The only tentativeness was of the two lanes (on Front Street) people were a little unsure even though we were encouraging them to use the two lanes."
Mr. Benevides said people did very well in listening to advice printed in the media, by either leaving for work earlier or later and taking public transportation. He said it also helped that workers were on hand to assist.
He commended the motoring public for driving carefully and courteously and said "I was very pleased with how the morning went".
"Not only did we not get any negative feedback we had a number of people suggest putting this on the table (as) an option for traffic flow in the future."
Mr. Benevides said one Warwick commuter who usually needed 30 to 45 minutes to get through traffic was in town in ten minutes yesterday.
Mr. Benevides said it was "too early" to determine the success of the new route, but added: "Depending on reaction over the next three weeks anything to move traffic flow through the city is something we will consider putting on the table."
