The National Carnival Commission – Working to transform Trinidad and Tobago Carnival
As the NCC moves to enhance the Carnival Industry for Trinidad and Tobago, efforts continue to improve a few key areas of Carnival operations towards making Carnival a more enjoyable experience for masqueraders, spectators and bandleaders.
Based on constant interaction with the Carnival stakeholders the following route has been proposed for parade activities for 2014.
The proposed route for the approach to the Savannah stage, bands will move along Tragarete Road, up Victoria Avenue and to the Savannah. Crossing the Savannah stage from West to East.
Benefits
1. Curbing the Bottleneck - At the corner of Picadilly Street, Park Street and Charlotte Street, the junction acts as a bottlenecking node in an anti-clockwise direction, while it functions as a release node in a clockwise direction, thus allowing bands to filter move effectively to behind the bridge, Downtown or Park Street as a bypass into Ariapita Avenue.
2. Reduced wait time to cross the Savannah Stage Queuing distance into the Savannah stage is significantly reduced. Distance from Tragarete Road to Victoria Avenue - 1.8km compared to Charlotte Street from Park Street corner to the Savannah – 0.5m. The engineering team has calculated that this Proposed Route (and longer route) will reduce the wait time to cross the stage from 4 hours to 2.5 hours.
3. Keeping the Masquerader comfortable - When queuing along Charlotte Street no loud music will be allowed due to the proximity of the POS General Hospital. This issue does not arise along Victoria Avenue.
4. Opportunities for disaster mitigation - In a clockwise direction, Frederick Street can be used as an escape route (if this becomes necessary) for bands proceeding Downtown from the Savannah after exiting the stage at the Savannah. Using the old route this is not available.
Challenges: Prevailing winds in the Savannah are from East to West. To mitigate against this, it is recommended that windbreakers be installed and the cost of same can be off-set against the advertising opportunities.
Other recommendations:
1. Better equipped and trained Road Managers.
2. Great cooperation between the road managers and the protective forces.
3. Adherence to the rules and regulations governing the use and operation of the route
4. Declared penalties within the proclamation for bands who choose to violate the rules.
