The National Roads Authority (NRA) recently published a study of “quick win” scenarios on its website to address traffic concerns raised by residents and road users passing through the CUC, Grand Harbour, Red Bay and Tomlinson roundabouts. While the goals of the study are to accommodate future growth, alleviate congestion, improve bicycle and pedestrian accessibility, improve safety and improve transit accessibility through the corridor of bottlenecks, the NRA acknowledged in the study that the proposals “are only one part of a comprehensive island-wide solution to be combined with the need for land use planning” and “the need for enhanced public transport that is both frequent and reliable.” In other words, the proposals will only provide temporary relief or none if a revised long-term development plan and alternative transport solutions do not come to fruition.
Solutions For The Tomlinson Roundabout
Starting with the Tomlinson roundabout, one proposed solution is a hybrid signalized roundabout.Â
Regarding this proposal, the study said:
This alternative fully signalizes the roundabout during peak traffic conditions, with signal timings triggered by vehicle detection and pedestrian push buttons.
For off-peak hours, signals will flash yellow to indicate yield control operations.
Full signalization increases delay on eastbound EWA, but reduces queuing on westbound EWA and northbound Shamrock Road approaches.
This option includes some lane reconfiguration, including additional entry lanes on the westbound and northbound approaches.
The study added: “This alternative improves overall safety by controlling the movements entering the roundabout, thereby reducing the opportunity for accidents that may occur as vehicles attempt to enter a congested roundabout. Pedestrian facilities are improved by connecting existing sidewalks and providing crosswalks, walk signals, and push buttons. New bus pullouts will enhance transit access.”
The alternative solution for the Tomlinson roundabout is traffic metering.
The study explained, “This alternative introduces traffic signals to meter eastbound EWA and southbound Shamrock Road during peak traffic conditions, reducing queues on westbound EWA during both AM and PM peaks.”
The study added:
The meter timings are to be triggered by vehicle detection, with queue detection in place to prevent long queue spillback.
For off-peak hours, the signals will be shut off, resuming typical yield operations.
This option maintains the existing lane configuration.
The study continued:
This alternative improves overall safety by providing adequate gaps for side street traffic to safely enter the roundabout thereby reducing the opportunity for accidents that may occur as vehicles attempt to enter a congested roundabout. Unfortunately, this traffic metering option does not provide safe pedestrian crossings at the roundabout.
New bus pullouts are provided to enhance transit access along EWA, with sidewalk extensions along all approaches.
Moving to the next roundabout in Red Bay, the study proposed signalized traffic metering.
The study explained that “This alternative introduces traffic signals to meter mainline approaches on EWA during peak traffic conditions, reducing side street queues on Prospect Point Road and Shamrock Road.”
The traffic meters will be timed in the same way as described above for the Tomlinson roundabout for peak and off-peak hours.
Regarding movements to and from Prospect Point Road, the study said, “This option maintains the prohibited movements to/from Prospect Point Road that are enforced today using bollards installed within the roundabout.”
While one of the aims of this proposal is to allow “side street traffic to safely enter the roundabout thereby reducing the opportunity for accidents,” the study said that “this traffic metering option does not provide safe pedestrian crossing over the six-lane legs of the roundabout.”
In addition to the concern raised for pedestrians, it is unclear how effective the proposal will be to help parents who may get stuck in traffic while dropping off their children at primary schools in the area.
Assuming that road users can make it through the Red Bay roundabout in a reasonable time, driving from the eastern districts into town, the next obstacle to overcome is the Grand Harbour bottleneck.
Regarding this, the study proposed several solutions, including a mandatory left turn exiting Grand Harbour and a signalized roundabout similar to the proposals mentioned above.
Concerning the left-turn only out of Grand Harbour, the study said:Â
All southbound traffic is required to turn left only, and access to points south or west can still be achieved via U-turns through the downstream Red Bay Roundabout or by using other alternate paths such as the Parallel Service Road connection west to the CUC Roundabout.
Contrary to residents’ fears that this may increase travel time and result in long delays, the NRA estimated in the table below that only a few minutes will be added to total travel time.
In addition to travel time, road users are concerned about possible accidents that could be caused while drivers are making a mandatory left turn out of Grand Harbour and other traffic is approaching from George Town to East End.
The NRA acknowledged this scenario in its study noting the “increase the overall crash potential and travel safety risks, which in turn can also lead to broader system breakdowns if/when crashes do occur and block the roundabout for longer periods of time.”
To reduce safety risks, the study proposed a hybrid signalized roundabout.
The study said, “This alternative fully signalizes the roundabout during peak traffic conditions, with signal timings triggered by vehicle and pedestrian detection.”
The study added:
For off-peak hours, signals will flash yellow to indicate yield control operations.
This option increases delay on Crewe Road /Shamrock Road but reduces queues on South Sound Road, Bimini Drive, and Selkirk Drive.
The study continued:
This alternative improves safety by protecting entry movements, thereby reducing potential accidents that may occur as vehicles attempt to enter a congested roundabout.
By restricting movements in/out of Grand Harbour Shopping Centre, this alternative removes potentially dangerous side street maneuvers and reduces mainline delay.
Pedestrian facilities improve by providing crosswalks and walk signals.
New bus pullouts enhance transit access, with sidewalk connecting the existing bus stop on Shamrock Road.
Another signalized traffic alternative in the study proposes that road users would be forced to turn left out of South Sound in addition to enforcing mandatory left turns out of Grand Harbour.
The study said, “This alternative relieves congestion at Grand Harbour but produces delays comparable to No-Build conditions along the rest of the corridor.”
The study added: “As drivers shift to downstream roundabouts to access the Service Road or complete right-turn movements, heavy queues are anticipated at the CUC Roundabout along Crewe Road, LPH, and the Service Road.”
While this alternative is expected to remove the “potentially difficult, high conflict side street maneuvers” noted in the study, the proposal appears to merely shift traffic from the Grand Harbour bottleneck to the CUC roundabout. (It is also unclear how many residents would actually use the pedestrian bridge proposed for this area. They may, instead, choose to walk across the highway to get to Grand Harbour, a scenario which occurs along West Bay road.)
Looking at the CUC roundabout, a hybrid signalized roundabout and traffic metering are proposed.
Regarding this, the study said:
This alternative fully signalizes the roundabout during peak traffic conditions.
For off-peak hours, signals will flash yellow to indicate yield control operations.
This option would increase delay on mainline LPH and Crewe Road approaches but would reduce side street queuing along Old Crewe Road and the proposed Service Road.
The signal timings will be triggered by vehicle detection and pedestrian push buttons.Â
The study added:
By 2026, LPH, BTW, and Crewe Road (between CUC and Grand Harbour Roundabouts) will be widened to six lanes to tie into widened Shamrock Road.
The roundabout geometry will be reconfigured to a peanut-shape design to safely tie in the proposed Service Road as the roundabout’s fifth leg.
Future population growth is anticipated to increase vehicle demand.
The study continued:
Once these roadways are widened to six lanes, most drivers are anticipated to shift off of Crewe Road (between Agnes Way and CUC Roundabout) to use LPH, with the widened peak direction approaches experiencing reduced intersection delay.
However, the increased traffic flow during the peak periods along widened LPH and Crewe Road will cause side street queues to increase on Old Crewe Road and the proposed Service Road as they become unable to find gaps to safely enter the roundabout.
The study concluded:
By 2036, construction of the South Sound By-Pass will divert a portion of vehicles off of LPH and Crewe Road by providing an alternate east-west path; however, traffic congestion at the CUC Roundabout will continue to worsen due to population growth across Grand Cayman.
CUC to Bobby Thompson roundabout
Once road users pass the CUC roundabout and head towards the Bobby Thompson roundabout, the study refers to “two lanes in each direction between Bobby Thompson Way and Outpost Street” and “one lane in each direction between Outpost Street and Walkers Road.”
The study also mentioned “Fairbanks Road widening between Cayman Enterprise and LPH – two lanes in each direction.”
If increased traffic volumes are diverted into the residential areas of Fairbanks, Outpost Street and Windsor Park or if drivers decide to take “short-cuts” during peak times through these neighbourhoods, this could create safety risks for children and cause delays for residents.  Presumably, these are not the outcomes intended by the NRA or desired by residents in these areas.
Summary
While the NRA’s efforts are appreciated overall, long-term strategic planning and policies are required to effectively resolve traffic congestion and increase the quality of life.
For example, two short-term solutions are increasing/widening lanes and opening the South Sound bypass. These are short-term because, in a few years, the population will skyrocket to roughly 100,000, as shown by the data below from the NRA study.
If the population growth continues per the NRA’s estimates above and each imported worker purchases or brings in a car, each roundabout will return to previous or worsened bottlenecks.
Unfortunately, the above will be the case unless a revised long-term development plan is urgently implemented and an efficient and affordable public transportation plan is launched (it is noted that many foreign workers are accustomed to public transportation in their countries of origin and are likely to use public transport rather than having to purchase a car, assuming that the public transportation system is reliable and affordable). Â
Given the implications, the NRA should extend the public consultation period beyond the current deadline of May 27, 2024, and the NRA and MPs of the various areas should hold public meetings to discuss it further.
In the absence of an extension, members of the public have until May 27, 2024, to send comments to the NRA at [email protected].Â
The complete study can be viewed at https://www.caymanroads.com/projects/cuc-roundabout-to-tomlinson-roundabout-corridor-multimodal-improvement-plan.
