By a Staff Reporter
RESIDENTS of Ayios Andreas in Nicosia gathered yesterday to protest against a new road layout in the area, which has resulted in more than 20 traffic accidents in two weeks.
The protest was also attended by representatives from the town planning department, the police and the Interior Ministry.
The works, which were completed two weeks ago, have led to traffic chaos, increased air pollution and caused a significant increase in the road accidents. Local shopkeepers have also been adversely affected.
Member of the Ayios Andreas Residents’ Committee, Anna Marangou, told the Cyprus Mail yesterday’s protest had been a success.
“We are satisfied,” she said. “The (relevant authorities) saw the situation with their own eyes and promised to look into it. They all agreed there is a problem. Hopefully they will redesign the whole area. ”
Marangou said the recent works had caused havoc in Ayios Andreas.
“They altered the traffic direction so shops had no business, it went down by 50 per cent. There were also queues of traffic which we never had in the past.” Bus drivers were also reluctant to use the new road layout, with many refusing to pick up schoolchildren living in the area.
She added that a total of 25 road accidents had occurred in the last fortnight: “Even though these were minor accidents they prove that there is something wrong with the design.”
The Residents’ Committee is expected to meet today to take the issue further.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
