Acting Superintendent of Police in Charge of the Central Division, Delvin Jno Lewis, has announced new traffic arrangements to facilitate the 25th Edition of the World Creole Music Festival (WCMF) scheduled to take place this weekend.
The 25th Edition of the WCMF is scheduled for Friday, October 24 to October 26.
“Absolutely no parking will be allowed on either side of Valley Road from its intersection with Boyd’s Avenue,” he said during a press conference held this week. “Absolutely no parking on both sides of that road, to the entrance of Valley Road next to [Convent Preparatory School].
Jno. Lewis continued, “So you can park from Grammar School to go back to Valley Road, back into Bath Estate…”
He revealed further that there will be no parking on either side of the link road, that is at the back of the stadium.
“Not on the river side, nor on the stadium side,” he warned. “We will also have no parking on Bath Road. That is in the junction of Bath Road, where you have the Lodge House going back into Town. Absolutely no parking on that side of that road.”
He said parking will be allowed on designated days.
“Parking will be permitted on the designated days on the northern and southern sides of Road Street, as in Goodwill, Link Road, and the E.C. Loblack Bridge into Murphy’s Lane.
No entry will be permitted on the portion of Bath Road that intersects with Cork Street.
“Obviously we have people living in the area, so we expect to allow local access to vehicle owners to access their home,” he stated.
He also mentioned that from Kennedy Avenue to Independence Street is safe for local access to permit individuals who have vehicles and reside along that road to access their home.
“Access will be granted only to owners of motor vehicles who reside on hat portion of Kennedy Avenue and Hillsborough Street,” he explained. “Absolutely no double parking will be permitted on any streets in the city.”
Jno Lewis urged the general public to please adhere to these traffic arrangements, “as we seek to bring about a safe and incident-free 2025 World Creole Music Festival.”
Meanwhile, Jno Lewis said no vending will be permitted on Bath Road from Cork Street to River Street.
“No vending will be permitted on the portion of road from Kennedy Avenue from Bath Road to Independence Street,” he warned. “No vending will be permitted to take place on the portion of road that runs from Hillsborough Street, from Bath Road to Independence Street, and the Stadium Link Road from River Street to Valley Road.”
He added, “So we are talking about the Link Road at the back of the stadium, no vending from that road all the way back into Valley Road to the entrance of Bath Estate.”
When occasional crowd pulling venues are added to the centre of a small town’s built heritage, without thought and planning, confusion is the end result.