Schoonord to Crane highway for commissioning soon – Croal

Works on the Schoonord to Crane four-lane highway is currently in its final stage and the road is expected to be commissioned within the next two weeks.

“The Schoonord to Crane highway will be commissioned within two weeks.

“Works are ongoing, being finalised. So within two weeks is a timeline we want to have this done,” Minister of Housing and Water, Collin Croal told the News Room during an interview on Tuesday.

The new $11.8 billion Schoonord, West Bank Demerara to Crane, West Coast Demerara four-lane highway is a transformative and modern project.

It will significantly alleviate traffic congestion on the West Coast of Demerara.

“…The bottle neck between the Demerara Harbour Bridge to that zone, all of that will be cut out. When you get over the river, you will have two options; one from Schoonord… or eventually where the bridge will land you will have the road that will connect you. But it’s coming out at Crane”

“So think about maybe a 45 minutes in the line waiting just to pass that area, reverses where maybe 10 minutes you will get to Crane. That’s the impact,” Croal explained.

The main aim of the project, Croal said is to ease the daily hassle faced by citizens.

“New roads, new interconnecting to communities means saving in terms of wastage as well as increase productivity. That is what it does,” he said.

The contract for the highway was signed in September 2022.

The project is being executed by eight contractors and is divided into eleven lots.

It sees the construction of 4.1 kilometers of a dual carriageway reinforced concrete road with an emergency lane as well as 2.4 kilometers of road rehabilitation and upgrade.

It will also feature two roundabouts, 11 reinforced concrete box culverts, 36 pre-stressed bridges, and road signage and markings.