St. Maarten Private Eye

By Rueben J Thompson

Love the Lagoon, Environmental Protection in the Caribbean

During the second week of November my colleagues and I happened to leave a meeting in the vicinity of the Fish Market by the bridge during rush hour and just a few minutes after the bridge opened. As we were early, for a dinner meeting in Maho and didn’t have to wait for the bridge, we decided to carry-out a mini-survey. We waited until traffic heading in the direction of Cole Bay/ Philipsburg had backed-up and come to a complete stop. We then headed towards Maho and counted the cars stuck in traffic between the bridge and the Airport. EPIC counted approximately 530 cars, 347 of which were occupied by just one person.

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Many of the drivers, of the vehicles EPIC counted during its abovementioned mini-survey, were wearing uniforms from either the different hotels, casinos, restaurants, airport services or airline agencies. The aforementioned clearly illustrates that the traffic congestion challenges St. Maarten faces are not just caused by an inadequate road network. Traffic congestion is also caused by the lack of company sponsored staff transportation, the island’s chaotic public transportation system and the absence of proper facilities and incentives to support it.

Attempting to resolve St. Maarten’s traffic congestion challenges through the expansion of existing road networks or the building of multi-million dollar bridges across the, already vulnerable, Simpson Lagoon without making an effort to address the actual source of the challenges is merely a cosmetic solution and will only lead to transplantation or a division of the problem from one road to the next. New roads will lead to more cars (see “induced vehicle traffic”, Traffic Congestion along the Simpson Bay Lagoon Part 1, Lagoon Log 17), more traffic jams and ultimately increased environmental degradation.

If the alleviation of St. Maarten’s traffic jams truly is one of government’s policy priorities then those in charge need to start making a genuine effort to:

• Regulate public transportation, arrange for proper bus stops, other related amenities and measures to ensure that bus drivers and the public make proper use of the facilities.
• Stimulate the use of public transportation by requiring the airport, large hotels, casinos and other sizeable businesses to provide their staff with travel expense reimbursement for the use of buses.

Make sure you read the next Lagoon Log for more answers to your questions and for more information on the Simpson Bay Lagoon.

Rueben J. Thompson
Project Manager Love the Lagoon, Environmental Protection in the Caribbean

Additional Lagoon Logs - By Rueben J Thompson - EPIC

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