Traffic Woes As Densely Populated Urban Areas are Central Activity Hubs!!!!!!!!

The above photo shows a common problem experienced in urban areas of Trinidad and Tobago, TRAFFIC!!!!! It is quite common to see the sight of traffic around many urban districts of the twin island republic, such as Port of Spain, San Fernando, Chaguanas, Arima, etc. This is primarily due to the fact that these areas contain most of the facilities, businesses, services and government offices in a small, dense area. This centralization thus leads to the large population all gathering in the same area to conduct their business procedures.

This series of development follows the model put forward which outlines the growth of a city around certain points that have high activity, high economic activity, and opportunities for employment and betterment. These are the core areas. The Periphery refers to the other areas surrounding the core, which usually supplies the core. This was seen in the extract taken from Childe (1950), where cities in the old world were usually built around central structures such as temples, and the growth then extended outwards from that central point.

This photo similarly shows the congestion that occurs at the Gulf City Mall, San Fernando. The close proximity to the main road which also leads into the heart of San Fernando commonly leads to heavy traffic build up in the area. In addition to the traffic itself, the time spent in traffic results in a loss of human resource as time spent in traffic could have been spent to do work. Also, the exhaust fumes from the traffic build up is also harmful to persons and the environment as the fumes released contains toxins such as Carbon Dioxide and Carbon Monoxide, which are harmful to human health in large amounts, and are also greenhouse gasses which contribute to global warming.

The photo also depicts the woes expressed by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, that public transportation is not fully utilized, which means more private cars on the roadways. If more persons were using the public transport system, then the fewer vehicles on the road would also ease the traffic woes. Below are three articles taken from the Trinidad Express Newspaper which speaks on the public transport system in the country.

1. "Public urged to use other transport" - http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Public-urged-to-use-other-transport-294932151.html
2. "Buy new buses to ease transport woes" -  http://www.trinidadexpress.com/20151024/letters/buy-new-buses-to-ease-transport-woes
3. "Let the traffic flow" - http://www.trinidadexpress.com/20151118/news/8216let-the-traffic-flow8217