Belize City is moving forward with a major shake-up to its urban transportation network, as a decades-old crossing on Regent Street West is set to be torn down and completely reconstructed following a troubling structural assessment.
The project to replace the Regent Street West bridge has been folded into a larger city-wide initiative centered on upgrading the Haulover Creek crossing network, most notably converting the previously temporary Hyde’s Lane crossing into a permanent fixture – a core component of the broader Swing Bridge replacement program. A recent engineering inspection found the existing Regent Street West bridge to be in severe structural disrepair, prompting officials to fast-track plans for its full replacement rather than costly incremental repairs.
Evondale Moody, chief engineer for Belize’s Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Housing, outlined that the full closure of Regent Street West will be required to carry out the demolition and subsequent construction of the new span, which will directly connect to the new permanent crossing over Haulover Creek. “We’ll close Regent Street West to construct the new structure and connect it to the bridge we’re building across the Haulover River,” Moody confirmed in a press briefing.
What was initially conceived as a short-term temporary crossing to ease construction-related traffic disruptions at Hyde’s Lane will now become a permanent addition to the city’s road network, designed to improve overall traffic flow through congested central Belize City. According to Moody, the Hyde’s Lane project is already roughly three-quarters complete. To date, construction crews have finished 120 feet of the 160-foot bridge deck, with active work continuing on the northern approach that will link the crossing to North Front Street and Hyde’s Lane itself. Additional earthworks and paving are scheduled for the southern end of the crossing, where the new span will connect to both East Collet Canal and West Collet Canal once finished.
Moody confirmed that the core construction work on the Hyde’s Lane permanent bridge is on track to wrap up between November 15 and 30 of this year. Separately, officials have also announced that the nearby Burton Canal Bridge will implement a new weight restriction, banning all heavy truck traffic to reduce structural strain on the aging crossing while adjacent infrastructure work is completed.