Traffic in the Capital
- Feb 5, 2016
- 2 min read
(click images to enlargen)
Traffic, as any resident of Port of Spain can tell you, is an everyday part of life in the city. Whether it be morning, midday or evening, the roads of the capital are packed with vehicles of people going about their daily commute.
Congestion, synonymous with any road network, experiences great severity in and around major employment hubs and central business districts, especially during morning and afternoon peaks. This daily event leads to various impacts on both the environment and “man’s pocket”. Robinson (1984) [1] states that driving patterns such as stop-go or acceleration-deceleration alongside with slow speeds increases fuel consumption. His article entitled Problems In The Urban Environment: Traffic Congestion And Its Effects, also indicated that traffic congestion creates high levels of hydrocarbons and oxides of nitrogen, emitted from car exhaust systems are key culprits in photochemical smog. These are but a few effects of traffic congestion to which plagues Port-of-Spain in both the morning and evening periods.
But why exactly are there so many cars in Port of Spain? Being the major business and commercial district in Trinidad and Tobago - as well as the seat of the Parliament, hotels, schools, and sport facilities - it’s understandable why there is such a large flow of traffic. “I have to wake up at 5 every morning to get to school in time for 7:30,” says a student of the College of the Immaculate Conception (CIC), found in downtown Port of Spain. According to an Express article Too Many Cars [2] published in 2013, the country was nearing its millionth registered vehicle. That’s roughly one car per person. The government have implemented certain strategies to reduce the flow of traffic, such as placing fines on cars with less than three passengers on the bus route, and improving the road network by developing the fly over at an intersection on the Churchill-Roosevelt highway to Port of Spain. In our opinion, a more apt solution would be to increase taxes on cars, so that there would be less cars on the road.
How exactly does traffic link to the multiplex image of Port of Spain? We believe that in order to show the entire image of a city, both the good and the bad must be focused on, and in this case it’s the bad. Despite its high rise buildings and structures which would tend to leave a lasting impression on a person, so does the traffic. The fact that there is an abundance of cars pulsing through the city for the majority of the day is the reason we believe traffic should be included in the multiplex image of Port of Spain.
[1] http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1013&context=wollgeo
[2] http://www.trinidadexpress.com/business-magazine/Too-many-cars-226076551.html
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