Cars should be banned from Main Street in Road Town
Local architect and Managing Director of OBMI, BVI, Marvin Flax, has posited that Main Street, Road Town would function best as a pedestrian-only area.
Flax made the suggestion at a stakeholders symposium hosted by the BVI Yachting, Hotel & Tourism Association (BVIYHTA) this week.
He said the current structure of Road Town shows that the territory is primarily focused on vehicular movement rather than efficiency and a pedestrian friendly environment. Because of this, he said much of the valuable real estate in Road Town is used as a parking space for vehicles.
“I’m a big proponent of turning Main Street into a pedestrian-only [thoroughfare] entirely,” Flax said as the audience applauded. “Being able to turn those streets into active walkways, active vibrant spaces, coffee shops, restaurants, arts, residential as well, that’s where we should be. I wouldn’t say the entire Road Town, but a big chunk of Main Street should be vehicular free.
Many ideas have been proposed to manage the flow of traffic in the territory’s capital Road Town. Because of the town’s size, it is becoming more difficult to manage the local demand for cars and other vehicles.
Many tourism stakeholders are in favour of making some streets vehicular free as they say this will help the territory facilitate cruise tourists who like to walk the streets after disembarking.
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I agree. Only the free fare transport should be alo allowed to go up and down on it.
PUT PAID PARKING METERS
@soil boy The electric shuttles, delivery vehicles at prescribed hours and emergency services. Install electric bollards at entrances.
There are a lot of improvements you can make to the Main street to improve the Pedestrian walk ways.
1st the parking areas need to be clearly defined. This can be done by extending the curbs to create a no parking area. So the pedestrians have places to talk. The walk way through from Bamboshey to Island roots need to be a pedestrian walk way not a car park. You can not even pass when two cars park there let alone a wheel chair or child’s buggy.
If you put in meter displays then this will limit the traffic parking there all day and free up the area. But you need to make provisions else where for parking.
The Main issue of traffic in road town is the Ferry terminal. Cars are parked everywhere and no one can access to drop off people. The Taxi are double parked but they don’t use their designated parking area. I think you need to swap the taxi parking to the exit entrance and then have a clear drop off are where you can pull in . This can be done using the old taxi area. The food hut will need to be relocated. But this is the only way the traffic can flow through town smoothly.
How can we expect thing stop change when police officers themselves park illegally, or simply walk passed vehicles parked illegally and instead of ticketing the driver they wave hello?
The parking lot and ferry terminal should be inside guard rails divided from sidewalk from parking lot in front of pussers down to parking lot in from old Peebles hospital seaside entrance in on one end and exit on the other end.
I’ve thought so for a long time.
Close down the street for cars, encourage cafes and clothing stores to rent the buildings. Allow them to use the road as an extension of their store, let them set up tables and chairs in the road, let them beautify the road. Make Main Street a pedestrian only shopping district.
traffic is easy to fix
– ban all illegal scooters
– impound cars parked illegally for 6 months and revoke drivers license of a hole drivers
– enforce registration, insurance, and traffic laws in town.
– make it law only 2 vehicles per family. old cars are junked or must be sold to valid buyer not exceeding alowed limit.
Closing mainstreet from cars would create a traffic nightmare. The traffic is already bad enough at certain times
This is not a new suggestion. I myself recommended it to Mark some 20 years ago. Main Street from Skelton Building to the Purple Palace hill exit should be a brick-layer pedestrian walk way. Speacial golf carts for businesses to bring supplies to their businesses. Park benches and soft lights for the evening. Security cameras and personally so tourists feel safe walking there at nights. Drive more traffic to the businesses on that street.
Remove taxi stand and kiosk to the west of the terminal.
Can these people who want to turn Main street like a european streeet please shut the heck up. THANK YOU. how are businesses going to get their supplies? You dont turn your main street into a pedestrian street…show.me which country has done that??? You turn secondary less important roads that are primarily tourist roads into pedestrian roads. Not roads with active non tourist businesses. Typical of BVI and BVislandser to take the worst of foreign xountries and force it here where it dont fit. Thats why we driving on the left side of the road with a left hand drive vehicle.
What the heck??!!! So what happen to all the other businesses that are non tourist (e.g. the law firms and trust companies)?? Yall people gone mad. What about church goers???
What about the people who still.live on main street?? Yall aint know what u talking. How about make where you live a pedestrian only area.
@ Local brother…. Are you aware that real people still live on Mai Street in Road Town TORTOLA. And been living there for seven eight ge rations? But you are concerned for the safety of tourist who show up for a moment? Get real.
Those who live there get a pass so they can enter and park in designated area. It’s a great idea in general.
Your property will probably go up in value
Once the UK takes over in 2024 there won’t be much traffic in Road Town so it will be easy to close Main Street to all vehicles!
So you are still dismissing the thirty thousand or more Black souls that call this rock home, most of whom have roots stretching back hundreds of years, as non to insignificant to non-important, that the UK can just walk in and TAKE OVER.
Some of you are really of the devil.
WHAT A MENTALITY UP UNDER THAT SHULL!!!
Bouy! Miss when life was simple, well hinged, unstressful and unhectic.
When i and many, many more lived on and along that street long before the highway.
I lived on Fonseca’s corner with my grandma. The boys grew up up fishing and having boy fun all along the town.
Then modernith and its stresses came and brought all the ailments we are suffering from today.
Say its not so.
“I’m a big proponent of turning Main Street into a pedestrian-only [thoroughfare] entirely,” Flax said as the audience applauded. “Being able to turn those streets into active walkways, active vibrant spaces, coffee shops, restaurants, arts, residential as well, that’s where we should be. I wouldn’t say the entire Road Town, but a big chunk of Main Street should be vehicular free.
This is the problem I have with these fake bright people. Coffees, shops for who? Give me a break this is nonsense. Perhaps main street would look good car free yes but stop talking s**t. How would it be car free without solutions to the parking woes facing us especially in the Capital? These half-baked bulls**t ideas get all the applauses because people are so easily duped over nonsensical speeches ignoring the realities. In order for main street to be come pedestrian only, a major parking deck or something similar would need to be done in Road Town. If that is not in the plans then they are all just p**sing and spitting in the wind.
I was in Tortola lately and rented a car and was shocked at driving main street from rite way supermarket pass the post office which shocked me to see it derelict, back in my days of living in Tortola you had to drive from water front towards the cemetery, and the cay take over leaving main street abandoned, I could remember the years when land build up was taking place and only bolio music store and palm grove shopping center was up at the cay, now to make main street a pedestrian only street would further destroy what ever business left. In the old days main street was the economic drive of the BVI, I think duty free shops should be allowed for main street to give that historical street it’s bustling again because it’s a ghost town or street now and closing traffic to it is the death knell
Road bumps need in Waterfront Drive – the cars go fast somebody gonna get killed soon. And speed cameras. When the traffic lights near First Caribbean gonna be fixed – its a month now?