Labasa bus stand relocates as major improvement work starts

The people of Labasa can look forward to a much improved bus stand in the coming months as construction starts on upgrading the existing site next week. Dale Nicholls, Fiji Roads Authority Maintenance Works Manager says “the existing bus stand has an unsealed surface that is very hard to maintain. The existing layout also had poor management of the buses going in and out, stopping areas and overall pedestrian safety, factors that were taken into consideration with the design of the new bus stand”

While the construction work is taking place, buses will operate out of a temporary bus station situated further along Jaduram Street.

“Fiji Roads Authority was requested by the Labasa Town Council in the first instance to look at resurfacing the existing bus stand area and we were also asked to look at how we could look at the safety and operation of the area particularly for pedestrians” say Mr Nicholls

While bus patrons will experience some short term inconvenience, the benefits of this project is long term including the new concrete surface that will be suitable for use all year round; not suffering the same maintenance issues as the current one. The new layout of the bus stand will also provide channelling for buses so that they line up in an orderly fashion. “We are also providing a separated pedestrian area to improve pedestrian safety so there will be a lot more formality to the layout as part of the safety improvements” says Mr Nicholls.

The new bus stand layout extends into a portion of Jaduram Street making the street one way until the point where it goes past the existing bus stand. This change is the result of the discussions between Labasa Town Council, the Bus Operators Association and Taxi Association to ensure bus capacity is not reduced.

The design of the new Labasa Bus stand was jointly undertaken between MWH Global and Fulton Hogan Hiways Joint Venture who will be starting work onsite in the coming week. The General Public is a key stakeholder and the Authority urges motorists and travellers not to access areas where our teams will be working; to take notice of the barriers and the fenced off areas and to remain aware that this activity is taking place especially with the market and taxi stand close by.

With the need to provide a temporary bus stand further down Jaduram Street we ask that the public be patient and understanding of the inconvenience that will occur over the next couple of months while we undertake this project.