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Traffic lights will bring order to busy intersections in Belize City

HighlightsTraffic lights will bring order to busy intersections in Belize City

BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Dec. 12, 2019– Belize once made it on the US game show Jeopardy with the question: Which country only has one traffic light?

Presentely, the folks at Jeopardy cannot bring that same question back, because that reality has changed. Traffic lights have been installed in several municipalities throughout the country. In fact, one week ago, the Belize City Council installed a set of six lights at the busy intersection of Central American Boulevard at its junction with Neal Pen Road.

The state-of-the-art traffic lights which confirm to international standards are equipped with cameras that can photograph violations, and drivers who run the red lights are putting themselves at risk of being ticketed through an automated system.

The Taiwanese Embasay in Belize has began a partnership with City Hall to equip more busy intersections of the city with traffic lights.

In a telephone interviw tonight with Belize City Mayor Bernard Wagner, he confirmed that the city’s Traffic Department has been studying the traffic patterns around the city, both on the North and the South sides, and has identified several more locations where the installation of traffic lights would ease congestion and bring traffic under control, and also eleminate the need for traffic officers to be present during the peak times in the morning and evening.

Mayor Wagner told us that that the lights are pedestrian-friendly, meaning that the red light stays on long enough so that pedestrians can safely cross the streets.

Mayor Wagner said the council will install traffic lights at the corner of Central American Boulevard and Fabers Road in the vicinty of two schools and the Port Loyola Road Heath Center.

There are also plans to install traffic lights at the corner of King and Albert Streets in the downtown area of the city.

On the north side, Mayor Wagner told us that traffic lights will be installed at the junction of New Road and Douglas Jones Street and also at the junction of Hydes Lane and North Front Street, and at St. Thomas Street and Freetown Road junction.

The lights that were installed on Central American Boulevard and Neal Pen Road were done by a San Ignacio-based company, K&M.

Mayor Wagner explained that servicing the traffic lights would be easy because the spare parts are available in Mexico, and the council has trained its personel to handle the maintenance of the lights.

Councilor Allan Pollard, who holds the Traffc portfolio, remarked at last week’s inauguration ceremony that, “This system will surely eradicate the various traffic concerns that have been increasing on Central American Boulevard, and we can now rest assured that our people will be safer while traversing this area.

Remus Li-Kuo Chen, Taiwan’s ambassador to Belize, said, “Through this traffic lights system, you will not only allow adequate crossing times for pedestrians, especially for our lovely children students, but also help the city traffic operators to manage traffic flows easily and in a timely manner.”

Mayor Wagner said, “We have eight traffic lights and six pedestrian lights which really add value to people’s safety, and the residents’ safety in this area. The value is in the six-figure range, obviously. We were able to achieve this with the assistance from our friends in Taiwan.”

Feature photo: Traffic lights installed near 88 Shopping Center on Central American Boulevard

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