Nassau, Bahamas -- Officers of the Royal Bahamas Police Force will be out in full force to ensure the smooth flow of traffic during the construction phase of the one-way system for Baillou Hill Road and Market Street confirmed Sergeant Garland Rolle of the Traffic Division.

“All uniformed police officers working on the island of New Providence will be involved with maintaining law and order in this area and for other road works going on in New Providence,” said Sgt Rolle.

“Any officer in a patrol or motorcycle unit, once in uniform, understands his/her responsibility to enforce the laws of The Bahamas.”

He pointed out that the Police Force is working closely with engineers from the Ministry of Public Works and Transport to make traffic flow easier.

“We are very concerned about this and we will be giving it our full attention. The cooperation of the general public is very important with this project to ensure they know what to do,” said Sgt Rolle.

Phase one of the Baillou Hill Road and Market Street corridor to be implemented, Tuesday, March 30 will make Baillou Hill Road one-way northbound and Market Street one-way southbound between Robinson Road and Wulff Road.

The new system is a part of the $120 million New Providence Road Improvement Project that is being funded by The Bahamas Government and the Inter-American Development Bank.

The Road Traffic Department has increased its efforts to inform the public of the changes to be implemented.

Brad Smith, Assistant Controller in the Road Traffic Department said in conjunction with the Transport, Policy and Planning Unit, the Road Traffic Department would be visiting the 20 plus schools in the area.

“It is important that we get into the schools and agencies that use Baillou Hill Road and Market Street corridors to commute to and from school and work,” Mr Smith said.

“We are going into the schools to inform the students where they need to go to catch the buses and we will use this as a safety message as well.”

He pointed out that 170 buses travel on Baillou Hill Road and 12 buses use Market Street corridor full time.

“The bus routes are not a major challenge because the drivers are easily adaptable. The challenge we will have is to get the students and members of the public to understand where to go to take the buses.

“The bus drivers are presently using the same routes, but as the road work progresses we will make the necessary adjustments to them.

“We are having meetings with stakeholders and we have been dialoguing with all organizations in the transportation business for the past three weeks,” Mr Smith said.