News that the road divider at the junction of Welfare Road and Wellington Road will be repaired this week is most welcome. It comes after The Daily Herald published a photo showing the partially-fallen-apart traffic island. What made this issue worse was that a pedestrian crossing is located there as well, so people on foot had to negotiate loose-lying bricks while trying to get to the other side of the street.
However, before everyone starts celebrating, keep in mind that the work is scheduled to take place from Wednesday to Friday between 7:00am and 4:00pm at one of the busiest and most congested spots on the island. Depending on to what extent they close the road during those three days, the usual line of vehicles at certain peak hours may be expected to get even longer and detour options are limited.
Nevertheless, once on the site it would be a good idea to go ahead and fix the recurring potholes in the vicinity. While some emergency filling-in did recently take place, motorists are still driving very carefully and slowly to avoid damaging their tyres or cars.
The fact that passenger buses stop there too is not exactly a big help. Especially with the former Daily Extra supermarket having reopened as Greens Market, the situation can become a bit chaotic at times.
Mind you, major infrastructure projects have been executed in the same area on several occasions in the past, which makes it a particularly frustrating undertaking. It’s been said before, but so long as residents and businesses up the slope towards the Osbourne Kruythoff roundabout keep dumping wastewater onto the street, reaching a sustainable solution will remain difficult at best.
