By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

Gladstone Road businesses yesterday voiced concern over whether customers will still have sufficient access to their enterprises both during and after the upcoming $29m, two-year road improvement project.

Tremmie Thompson, Caribbean Gas general manager, told Tribune Business she is worried that the Gladstone Road Improvement Project (GRIP) will drive patrons to her competitors if construction works bar the way or make access too time-consuming and inconvenient.

She said: “We had somebody come to us last week. It’s going to interrupt supplies if there’s not a roundabout directly in front of our business, because where we’re located is actually in the middle of Gladstone Road, and once you pass us going either way people are just going to go to the next space that is opened up.”

There are six proposed roundabouts in the new Gladstone Road design, and the closest one to Caribbean Gas will be in front of Aquinas College. “The roundabout won’t be in front of Caribbean Gas, but my point is when you pass us there is nowhere for you to turn around. You will have to go all the way around and turnaround, and how many people are going to do that if they know that there is another site directly down the road?” Ms Thompson lamented.

The roundabout at Gladstone Road’s intersection with JFK Drive will be redesigned to improve traffic flow and safety. Further roundabouts will be installed to improve traffic flow at major intersections, and provide turning ability for motorists.

Gladstone Road is a well-known location for liquefied propane gas (LPG) suppliers, as several have their storage facilities on that corridor. Caribbean Gas is sandwiched, with two competitors either side of them, and they fear becoming an “afterthought” when the road works are completed because consumers will likely stop at rivals who they can reach before them.

“There seems to be no thought to it,” Ms Thompson said. “They will just pass our station because not everyone knows where Caribbean Gas is; they just know it is on Gladstone Road. So what will happen is they will continue travelling and not realise they missed the sign, and they are going to go further down and see one of our competitors and decide to stop there.

“So it’s going to be an effect on our business sales in terms of customers. We are going to have to look at other ways of marketing our business where people would want to come to us because of our service.”

Jonathan Cartwright, president of Cartwright’s Bedding, yesterday said he is “thrilled” that Gladstone Road will now be widened. He added: “Sometimes just to get to the roundabout by the Fusion Superplex in the middle of the day, it would take about 15 minutes.

“It needs to be widened, it needs to happen. I wanted an exit right next to me because there are some businesses near to me, and I wanted a dedicated lane for us from the northbound coming in, but I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

Another roundabout will be located a quarter of a mile away at Rocky Pine Road, which Mr Cartwright believes will be sufficient for his customers. “I’m old enough to remember when they did the roadworks on Prince Charles Drive, but the thing is with the type of businesses on Gladstone Road, they cannot do that to us,” he added of the traffic restrictions and lane closures.

“ A lot of crucial businesses are on this road, so I hope they manage it better than when they did Prince Charles Drive nearer to the Robinson Road side. Those businesses suffered greatly with the road improvement project.”

Chico Wong, manager of Wongs Building Supply, said the road project brings the “unknown in the sense that it is going to be a double lane”. He added: “If they turn this into a super highway then people would have to go all the way back to the roundabout to come back to our business.

“Like how they did with Blue Hill Road and Harold Road [Tonique Williams Highway] when they shut down all of the businesses. The construction took forever and, after they finished it, it was only one way and you had to go all the way to the roundabout and spin around and come back.”

Mr Wong wants an off-ramp added to the roundabout located at Rocky Pine Road because he believes this will not be sufficient for his customers, and business will suffer by being choked off from drive-by traffic. “If they just have a super highway where it’s like two lanes going north and two lanes coming south, and there’s a barrier in the middle, that could be hard for us. Customers would have to come right around before they could get back to the business,” he added.

The Ministry of Works & Utilities is planning to widen Gladstone Road from a single lane road to a dual carriageway. Expanding the roadway to a dual carriageway will provide increased vehicle capacity, a reduction in travel delays, intersection improvements, and improve safety for motorists and pedestrians. Improvements will also include a new storm drainage collection system, LED street lighting, road markings, sidewalks and a bicycle trail.