It was one of those overcast days in the Capital City yesterday morning.
It did not rain in the early part of the day, but there were dark clouds that threatened that drop of rain throughout, until the skies opened up towards the afternoon and into the night.
It wasn’t so much the gloomy outlook that looked certain for Suva residents that inched out negative vibes though.
It is difficult to shrug off touches of anger and frustration that slowly build up as you make your way to the city daily.
The traffic jams are seemingly endless.
They stretch for miles in both directions.
The energetic policemen and women on point duty ease the frustration a wee bit though.
They allow some semblance of order in what could well be a chaotic scene every morning without them.
Yet this slight reprieve cannot ease the growing anger and frustration that can be draining on the senses sometimes.
The traffic jams, slow moving as they are, will sap the energy, and can be emotionally draining.
However, a factor that is causing frustration and more anger is the shocking state of most of our roads leading into the Capital City.
The portion along the Nabua centre is worse than gravelled road, with the cover jobs on potholes adding to rattles and bumps in vehicles.
So when you consider the delays on the way to work, these days, throw in the shocking state of the roads, and you have a pretty bad experience daily.
It seems we may as well accept the fact that this will not be going away any time soon either.
So vehicle owners may as well factor in extra costs on suspension systems and on body panel work.
In the midst of the congestion, and traffic travelling at a snail’s pace, and the potholes and bumps, there are inconsiderate drivers.
Perhaps the powers that be should be pulling up such drivers who have no second thoughts about beating the queue.
Being stuck in the heavy morning traffic congestion worsened by the state of our roads, is not the best start to anyone’s day.
It inches out anger on top of frustration.
Inconsiderate drivers add to the stress levels of those who patiently bide their time in the queue.
Everyone wants to reach their destination on time. Traffic congestion is a killer of time and productivity at the workplace.
We are nowhere near the world’s busiest cities in terms of congestion issues though.
But do we really have to go through this daily?
Are our roads designed to effectively cater for the demands of a growing population and rising vehicle numbers?
The challenge for those in authority is to keep reducing to a reasonable level the time we spend travelling to work and school, and keep inconsiderate drivers in check.
In terms of our roads, we have been told by the FRA that we may not see wholesale improvements for four to five years.
It says the truth is that there is no practical rapid solution.
There will be local improvement, and the FRA will be identifying the most severely damaged areas and working on their rehabilitation first, but large-scale improvement will not be seen until these first of the major rehabilitation projects are complete (three years from now), it said in a statement.
Until then the Fiji Roads Authority will continue to repair and maintain accessibility.
We say no one needs the stress!
