Loyal Hill Community Committee member Mr. Keith Simmons yesterday gave Government a 6X115-foot strip of his property to ensure the safety of area residents.

Mr. Simmons told The Royal Gazette he decided to turn over the piece of land, which borders the northern section of his property, after learning it would take Government some nine months to put a cross walk at the junction of Loyal Hill and North Shore Road in Devonshire.

"I felt that it was a neighbourhood problem and if it would take about nine months like they said, why not go ahead and do something about it sooner,'' he said. "Loyal Hill residents have complained for more than 10 years about the lack of a cross walk in that area.'' Last year, some 200 residents signed a petition demanding a cross walk.

"People leaving from Loyal Hill have to go practically in the middle of the road just to be able to see what traffic is coming,'' president of the Loyal Hill Committee Mrs. Fikrte Ming said last November. "There are a lot of children who live here and it's a heavy traffic area.'' Opposition Leader Mr. Frederick Wade, who represents the area in Parliament, delivered the petition to Works and Engineering Minister the Hon. Clarence Terceira and later urged him to get a cross walk in the area as soon as possible.

Calling Dr. Terceira "a man of action'' during the Budget debate, Mr. Wade said he was confident that Dr. Terceira would get the job "that cost about half a tin of paint'' done.

But Dr. Terceira said while he understood residents' concern, the matter was which was brought to his attention about 18 months ago was not so simple.

"On the left there is a spruce hedge out into the road which hides that junction,'' Dr. Terceira explained. "If we put a cross walk, it would have been unsafe. And at the other corner, the sight lines were just not good.

"When we took over from Agriculture (about five months ago), we cut the spruce hedges.'' But he said for the past six months he frequently visited the site to figure out how a cross walk could be placed there safely.

"When Mr. Simmons asked if it would help if he gave some land, that was the answer to our problems,'' Dr. Terceira said, adding that he is grateful to "community-minded'' Mr. Simmons.

With the extra space, Dr. Terceira said a cross walk will be placed in about two weeks.

"We're cutting back at the junction so we can get a better sight line for oncoming traffic from the east and we also plan to build a sidewalk,'' he said.

After prompting from Mr. Simmons, who holds community meetings at his home Monday and Wednesday evenings, Dr. Terceira said street lights are also expected to be installed at the old railway right-of-way in the Loyal Hill area.

AT THE CROSS ROADS -- Loyal Hill resident Mr. Keith O'Brien Simmons has given a strip of his land to Government to place a long-overdue pedestrian crossing at the junction of Loyal Hill and North Shore Road in Devonshire. Works and Engineering Minister the Hon. Clarence Terceira (left) visited the site yesterday.