Traffic from one of the busiest roads in the Larnaca area is being diverted through a small, formerly quiet residential street, causing uproar and a potentially dangerous situation.
The problem stems from the staggered closure of the Meneou-Pervolia road for sewage and road works. This is the road to a stretch of coastline, from the Soros salt lake down to Faros, that’s among the most popular areas – second only to Protaras – for holiday homes.
Local traffic is bad enough, but the weekend – especially in summer – is something else, with scores of Nicosians (it’s mostly Nicosians) driving down to their beach homes. Fani Pediou, one of the residents of Eleftherias street, estimates that “there might be almost 10,000 people passing through here”.
Eleftherias – which turns into Filias street for the second part of its short, L-shaped length – is the narrow road, home to about 20 families, which, since July 22, has been forced to accommodate the vast bulk of this traffic, swamped with drivers trying to bypass the section of the main road that’s currently closed.
Even on a Tuesday, when the Cyprus Mail visited, the situation was chaotic, with big trucks practically filling the road then having to manoeuvre to make way for cars – even, on one occasion, another big truck – coming from the other direction.
The trucks have become a kind of game to local kids (“Here’s another one!”) – but of course the combination of heavy traffic and children at play is a disaster waiting to happen.
Even worse is that the road is L-shaped, so there’s a blind bend in the middle. Then there’s the dust raised by all this commotion, blanketing cars and even – according to Holger Gardner, another resident – reducing the energy produced by solar panels because they’re covered in dust.
The weekend is worse, with fewer trucks but more aggressive drivers. One section of pavement has been blocked by residents with chairs, an old sofa and bits of wood. This is where a car swerved off the road and cut across a children’s playground (“30 minutes earlier,” says Fani, “my son had been playing there”). Others have cut across the fields in their impatience. One driver repeatedly bumped against a rubbish skip, trying to shift it out of the way.
Things came to a head last Saturday, with two dozen residents physically blocking the road. Then, on Sunday, police intervened and traffic was reduced – because, in fact, none of these cars are actually supposed to be here.
“We’ve put up signs saying ‘Residents Only’,” Kypros Andronicou, the mayor of Dromolaxia-Meneou, told the Cyprus Mail.
All these drivers are technically breaking the law, and could be fined. The intention was never for Eleftherias-Filias to become an alternative route, according to the authorities.
That said, the ‘Residents Only’ signs are at the end of the main road, down by the beach, so it’s possible that drivers are legitimately confused. (Similar signs in the other direction should be going up soon, according to the mayor.) There’s also the fact that Eleftherias-Filias was previously a dead end – but an unofficial extra stretch was recently added, putting down gravel on a dirt road to allow traffic to flow through.
Andronicou claims he had to add it, otherwise he’d be cutting off access to their homes for the residents. But they’d surely have preferred to park their cars nearby and walk, than to create such a tempting diversion for other drivers.
The whole situation is frustrating. It’s frustrating that road works are taking place now, at the height of the summer season – the reason being, apparently (as confirmed by the Environment Department), that road works can’t take place in the salt lakes area between January and July, as it would disrupt the fragile ecosystem.
It’s also frustrating that an alternative couldn’t have been found. Evangelos Moustakas, another resident, notes that there’s another road nearby that could’ve been used as a bypass, a dirt road with no homes or people – but that’s not an official road, counters the mayor, “whoever goes there goes at their own risk”. Isn’t the current situation even riskier, though?
Andronicou points out that it’s just for a few weeks – till the road works move down to the next stage, past the junction with Eleftherias-Filias – and, in any case, signs are now up. Will the signs solve the problem, though?
“In my personal opinion,” says the mayor wryly, effectively passing the buck to the police, “Cypriots will not obey the signs.”
“You need a policeman for every single person, in this country.”
