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(CNS): The author of a report about the potential impact of the East-West Arterial extension on traffic congestion has stated that he has no vested interest in whether the road progresses. He also said that he did the work pro bono and was not directed to find any specific conclusions but to take an independent look. In the face of criticisms about the assessment undertaken for local activists, Amplify Cayman, Kevin Kay, a UK road planning expert, told CNS that the project would only benefit from additional scrutiny.
Kay based the report on open-source data provided by the National Roads Authority and his experience in the field. He drew a number of conclusions that could contribute to the public consultation process and said that his findings should be seen as contributing to a healthy debate.
“Whether or not people in favour of the scheme seek to voice their criticism is fine, but it does not change the fact that decisions on schemes such as this, whatever the outcome, do benefit from scrutiny and a healthy debate,” he said. “If matters are judged on the basis of who shouts the loudest, that would make for less robust decision making.”
Kay made a number of observations in his report that Amplify Cayman hopes will be taken into consideration once the terms of reference for the environmental impact assessment are finalised and become part of the long list of issues that need to be closely examined during that process.
However, concerns remain that construction of the road will go ahead even if it is not possible to fully mitigate the risk of increased flooding and extensive environmental damage. At least three ministers, including Planning Jay Ebanks, who is responsible for roads, have said that this extension will be built regardless.
Transport Minister Kenneth Bryan recently stated publicly that the EIA conclusions would not stop the project but would merely guide how it is done. And despite his position as the minister of sustainability, Premier Wayne Panton has also thrown his support behind the road, while earlier assurances he made to the public that if the road was built it would not lead to the development of the Central Mangrove Wetlands have been undermined by Ebanks.
In complete contrast to the position taken by the premier, the planning minister has made it clear that although the road is not a solution to traffic congestion, it will enable more development in the Eastern Districts. Local environmental activists have long believed that the extension to the EWA has always been about development and that the wetlands are under threat far beyond the 174 acres that will be directly impacted by the road itself.
Drawing on his long experience in his field, Kay also told CNS that history demonstrates that building roads encourages development, which in turn encourages car use.
“Faced with a climate emergency, developments should be located in the most accessible places, where the opportunities exist to promote walking, cycling and public transport,” he advised. “The EWA extension would increase the accessibility by car from eastern areas, which would, in turn, increase the pressures to develop in areas which are located further away from the main poles of employment, leading to increases in overall vehicle kilometres and CO2 emissions.”
Congestion, he warned, is self-fulfilling and more roads can create more congestion, especially where roads intersect. Many believe the EWA is a poor solution to the congestion problems on the outskirts of George Town, caused by the intersection of all traffic coming from the Eastern Districts at the narrowest point of the island.
Kay noted in his report that the real cause of congestion is the funnel effect around Grand Harbour, and traffic patterns reveal pinch-points west of the proposed EWA, where conflicting streams of traffic need to be managed.
He said there is also an argument that the EWA extension could make things even worse on the edge of the capital. This could encourage a shift away from Shamrock Road, risking “a shorter but more intensive peak in car trips in the morning, which would, in turn, cause greater capacity issues for EWA junctions at Grand Harbour and elsewhere”, Kay warned.
Amplify Cayman is asking the government to carefully consider Kay’s report. They suggest that if there is no avoiding a second road from the east coming into town, it should look at developing the alternative shorter and less environmentally damaging coast road through Bodden Town that was gazetted in 1979. BP40 is a bypass through the high, dry limestone coast of Beach Bay that would go from Pedro Castle Road to Manse Road.
“We feel that BP40 would be a solution that balances ecological sensitivity with development,” Amplify Cayman said in its latest campaign video, noting that it could address congestion as well as provide the second route that the government has pushed as justification for the EWA without the same level of destruction.
Although the NRA has not begun the work on this road, the possible construction of the section from Manse Road to Beach Bay Road was part of a lapsed deal between the former PPM government and the developer of the proposed Mandarin Oriental hotel. Since then, that proposed development has been bought, sold and bought again, and it is no longer clear where that leaves previous agreements about BP40.
In his report, Kay said that BP40 is a real alternative to the EWA, as it would offer resilience for emergency vehicles, is better aligned with the patterns of future development and has a better connection with existing residential, employment and tourism areas around Bodden Town. In addition, it would have lower construction costs, given the underlying geology of the coastal bluff, would require less excavation and fill and would have greater resilience to storm surges.
There is no generally accepted delineated floodplain map for Cayman, but the proposed EWA extension is low-lying and, unlike BP40, would be vulnerable to tidal and storm-related flooding.
See documents relating to the EWA extension, including Kay’s report, in the CNS Library.
See Amplify Cayman’s campaign video below:
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