Is this the answer to Honiara’s crippling traffic?
The proposed route of the inner-city bypass
Detailed planning is underway for a 4km inner-city bypass along the Hibiscus Avenue route to ease the crippling traffic in Honiara’s city centre.
Early planning, revealed in the 2017-2036 National Transport Plan, would see the link run from the Holy Cross Cathedral, and, possibly, all the way to SIBC’s headquarters in Rove.
However the plan, which has been tentatively costed at $SBD 24 million, is still in very early stages.
The plan, presented in-part by Mike Qaqara form the Ministry of Infrastructure Development at a recent business function, is part of a number of future projects being discussed to ease what was described as the “worsening” traffic in the capital.
Another plan is to look to build a 24km-long, $240 million bypass from Henderson to Poha.
The proposed route from Henderson to Poha
In Mr Qaqara’s presentation, it was revealed there were now almost 15,000 vehicles registered in Guadalcanal, with 23,000 “vehicle movements” over the Mataniko bridge everyday, which is more than Victoria Bridge in Penrith, Australia, which sees 21,000 movements.
Penrith has a population of 180,000 while Honiara has an estimated population of about 80,000.
The presentation also estimated traffic congestion is costing the Solomon Islands $SBD 3.7 billion every year.