Dear Source,
At the turn of the century, not this one, but 100 years ago, we were
in the horse and buggy age. All businesses were on Main Street and " All
roads led to Rome". All traffic passed the shopping area. Most people
lived within walking distance of Main Street.
That seems a long time ago but on January 1, 1938, there were less than 300 cars on St. Thomas.
There were two garages in town, Arnold Van Beverhoudt, Garage 300, because his telephone was number 300. Louis Lindqvist, Garage 150, because his telephone number was 150. There were two public gasoline stations, V.A. Miller with the Texaco pump on Main Street and A. H. Lockhart with the Esso pump by the Market Square. The West Indian Company had their own pump for their employees.
Main Street had two way traffic, with parking on both sides of the street. A typical small town set up. But it changed as the number of moving cars increased. We are now a large town, vehicular-wise, like any big town States side.
There they have solved their traffic congestion by having transient traffic bypass the town. All your freeways have alternate routes around big towns.
Isn't it time to change our way of thinking, that every driver that wants to go from the west end of the island to the east end and vice versa must "Go through the center of town?"
I don't see the bypass from Lovers Lane to the east solving any thing, the holdup is getting through town and over Raphune Hill. The bypass should be above the town. We should have done this 30 years ago, before the hill sides were built up. Delaying it is only making it worse.
This could be like a four-lane freeway, but on two levels. The upper two lanes east bound and a lower level with 2 lanes west bound with access limited to the main north/south roads. It could be elevated on pillars without cutting into the hillside, eliminating all curves. That could be one solution.
Jack M. Monsanto
