The Soesdyke-Linden Highway is a 2-lane highway that runs between Soesdyke and Linden in

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

. The East Bank Public Road connects Soesdyke with Georgetown.

Construction

The Soesdyke-Linden highway was constructed between 1966 and 1968 by B.B. Mc. Cormick & Sons. It cost approximately US$17 million to build. The highway was officially opened in 1969. The Soesdyke-Linden Highway was constructed as one phase of a highway connecting Georgetown with Lethem. A feasibility study for such a highway was done by a US consulting firm, Metcalf and Eddy, in 1961.

Continuing work

The highway was rehabilitated in 1997–1999 with funding from the

Caribbean Development Bank The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) is a development bank that helps Caribbean countries finance social and economic programs in its member countries through loans, grants, and technical assistance. The CDB was established by an Agreement signed ...

. The repair works were carried out by a

Trinidadian Trinidadians and Tobagonians, colloquially known as Trinis or Trinbagonians, are the people who are identified with the country of Trinidad and Tobago. The population of Trinidad is notably diverse, with approximately 35% Indo-Trinidadian, 34% ...

company called Seereeram Brothers Ltd at a cost of US$6,575,000. The repair works included: overlaying the stretch between Soesdyke and Kuru Kururu with

Asphalt concrete Asphalt concrete (commonly called asphalt, blacktop, or pavement in North America, and Tarmacadam, tarmac or bitumen macadam in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland) is a composite material commonly used to surface road surface, roads ...

and sealing the rest of the road with a thin coat of asphalt and fine aggregate. The super structures of the bridges, which were of greenheart, were reconstructed with

Reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...

to a higher standard of live load. The highway greatly improved development of the town of Linden, which was previously accessed by boat via the

Demerara River The Demerara River is a river in eastern Guyana that rises in the central rainforests of the country and flows to the north for 346 kilometres until it reaches the Atlantic Ocean. Georgetown, Guyana's largest seaport and capital, is situated on ...

. Accidents are common, the highway is unlit and lacks regular maintenance.

References

Road transport in Guyana {{Guyana-geo-stub