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29-685: It runs for 35 km (22 mi) from Barataria in the west (where it joins the Beetham Highway ) to Wallerfield in the east (south of Arima ) where it ends in the former US Army base on Fort Read . It crosses the north–south Uriah Butler Highway (UBH) at Valsayn . Constructed during World War II to connect the US Army base with Port of Spain , the highway was named for the two wartime leaders, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt . Construction began in December 1941 and

58-543: A connector road, while the Aranguez and Curepe interchanges are simple overpasses. The Grand Bazaar interchange is the largest and most important of the interchanges on the entire highway system, where it crosses the Uriah Butler Highway. The highway is a 6 lane dual carriageway from Barataria to Mausica, and then narrows to 4 lanes before terminating at Wallerfield. It is notable though that some sections of

87-456: A few months before becoming writer-in-residence there. He was largely ignored by the Canadian literary establishment, with his works receiving no reviews during his residency. On a return trip to Trinidad, Selvon died of respiratory failure due to extensive bronchopneumonia and chronic lung disease on 16 April 1994 at Piarco International Airport ; his ashes were subsequently interred at

116-472: A fully grade separated four-lane expressway. These plans have begun with the widening of the highway from Mausica to Maloney to six-lanes, and construction of the section that bisects the Aripo Savanna. Much of the highway suffers from congestion due to an aging collection of traffic lights on most major junctions. There are plans to convert the entire highway into a grade separated expressway including

145-432: A national emergency. [REDACTED] Media related to Barataria, Trinidad and Tobago at Wikimedia Commons Sam Selvon Samuel Selvon (20 May 1923 – 16 April 1994) was a Trinidad -born writer, who moved to London, England, in the 1950s. His 1956 novel The Lonely Londoners is groundbreaking in its use of creolised English, or " nation language ", for narrative as well as dialogue. Samuel Dickson Selvon

174-607: Is to be found in Foreday Morning (eds Kenneth Ramchand and Susheila Nasta , 1989). In 1950, Selvon moved to London , England, where he took menial jobs, eventually working as a clerk for the Indian Embassy, while writing in his spare time. His short stories and poetry appeared in various publications, including the London Magazine , New Statesman , and The Nation . In London, he also worked with

203-651: The BBC , producing two television scripts, Anansi the Spiderman , and Home Sweet India . Selvon was a fellow in creative writing at the University of Dundee from 1975 until 1977. In the late 1970s, he moved to Alberta , Canada , and found a job teaching creative writing as a visiting professor at the University of Victoria . When that job ended, he took a job as a janitor at the University of Calgary in Alberta for

232-772: The BBC , which were collected in Eldorado West One ( Peepal Tree Press , 1988) and Highway in the Sun (Peepal Tree Press, 1991). The Lonely Londoners , like most of Selvon's later work, focuses on the migration of West Indians to Britain in the 1950s and 1960s, and tells, mostly in anecdotal form, the daily experience of settlers from Africa and the Caribbean. Selvon also illustrates the panoply of different subcultures that exist within London, as with any major city, due to class and racial boundaries. In many ways, his books are

261-754: The Churchill-Roosevelt Highway in Trinidad through the eyes of young Indian worker Tiger, was a popular choice on the CXC English Literature syllabus for many years. Other notable works include the collection of stories Ways of Sunlight (1957), Turn Again Tiger (1958) and Those Who Eat the Cascadura (1972). During the 1960s and 1970s, Selvon converted several of his novels and stories into radio scripts, broadcast by

290-563: The East–West Corridor . Barataria falls under the San Juan–Laventille Regional Corporation . It is a relatively quiet residential area, home to retired and "middle classes" with streets running north–south and east–west with corresponding names, e.g. "Fifth Street". There is the usual suburban mix of churches, shops, bars and auto repair shops. It is not far from the main highways into Port of Spain direct or via

319-608: The Piarco International Airport , south of the highway. The highway then continues past Maloney, Mausica and Arima. The highway terminates at a junction with Antigua Road in Wallerfield. Despite being one of the most important highways in the country, it is not entirely grade separated. Every major intersection after Curepe is signalized, leading to gridlock traffic congestion during peak times. The Barataria interchange connects to Morvant and Barataria via

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348-464: The University of the West Indies cemetery, St Augustine, Trinidad . Selvon married twice: in 1947 to Draupadi Persaud, with whom he had one daughter, and in 1963 to Althea Daroux (deceased), with whom he had two sons and a daughter. Selvon is best known for his novels The Lonely Londoners (1956) and Moses Ascending (1975). His novel A Brighter Sun (1952), detailing the construction of

377-619: The Barataria interchange, where it becomes the Beetham Highway heading west into Port of Spain. The highway then passes south of San Juan and through El Socorro/Aranguez. Soon after the Aranguez overpass, the highway intersects with the north-south Uriah Butler Highway just west of Valsayn. The highway continues eastwards past Curepe, St. Augustine, Tunapuna and Trincity. At the Piarco intersection, BWIA Boulevard provides direct access to

406-676: The US was granted the right to establish bases in the British Territories. Although the US Army had several bases on the island by 1941, the most important were Chaguaramas and the Air Base at Wallerfield, called Fort Read. The road communications between the Port of Spain (POS) and Fort Read near Cumuto was problematic as it consisted solely of the crowded Eastern Main Road, which slowed down

435-711: The construction of new interchanges. Notable are the Uriah Butler Highway interchange just west of Valsayn and the Curepe Interchange at the intersection with the Southern Main Road. Barataria, Trinidad and Tobago Barataria is a neighbourhood in Trinidad and Tobago located in San Juan . It is east of Port of Spain and Laventille and west of the San Juan town centre. It is part of

464-638: The course of the highway between Barataria and Arima. The following table lists the major junctions along the Churchill–Roosevelt Highway. The entire route is located in Trinidad. When WWII commenced, Trinidad became an important strategic point in the war effort. Through the Bases Agreement signed by British PM, Sir Winston Churchill, and the US president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Britain got 50 old American destroyers, and

493-467: The course. This era in history is documented in Samuel Selvon's classic novel, A Brighter Sun, where an inexperienced Indian youth is thrust headlong into the highway-building process. When the road was opened in 1942, it was the finest road in the island, being smooth and pothole free from end to end. It was not immediately asphalted, as it was pressed into service for the convoys almost as soon as

522-540: The exits to the northbound and southbound lanes of the Uriah Butler Highway from the east. At this point, the highway carries as much as 10 lanes due to an additional 2 lanes on the westbound lane for merging purposes. At the Curepe interchange, divided frontage roads also add to the number of lanes, with as much as 10 lanes. After these major interchanges, additional lanes are only joined to the highway at junctions for turning or merging. There are 9 pedestrian overpasses along

551-501: The highway contain additional lines and divided frontage roads. At the Grand Bazaar interchange, the underpass is 2 lanes westward and 3 lanes eastward with the north to west and east to south ramps respectively carrying 2 lanes each, hence there being as much as 9 lanes on the highway at this point. There is also a frontage road on the eastbound lane from Valpark to Grand Bazaar, which provides access to Bamboo No. 2 and 3, as well as

580-615: The large convoys moving between the two bases. The decision was made in 1941 to build a military two lane paved road between Fort Read and the Morvant Junction of the Eastern Main Road just outside POS (the extension of the highway, the Beetham Highway, would not be built until the 1950s.) Work began almost immediately, with the highway forever bisecting rural communities like St. Augustine, El Socorro and Tacarigua. Many crop farmers had to be moved as bulldozers ploughed

609-653: The narrative in English and most of the dialogues in dialect. Then I started both narrative and dialogue in dialect and the novel just shot along." Selvon's papers are now at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas, Austin , USA. These consist of holograph manuscripts , typescripts, book proofs, manuscript notebooks, and correspondence. Drafts for six of his 11 novels are present, along with supporting correspondence and items relating to his career. Selvon

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638-603: The precursors to works such as White Teeth (2000) by Zadie Smith and The Buddha of Suburbia (1990) by Hanif Kureishi . Selvon explained: "When I wrote the novel that became The Lonely Londoners , I tried to recapture a certain quality in West Indian everyday life. I had in store a number of wonderful anecdotes and could put them into focus, but I had difficulty starting the novel in straight English. The people I wanted to describe were entertaining people indeed, but I could not really move. At that stage, I had written

667-416: The road is finished. Opened in 1942 and reserved exclusively for military traffic, with exceptions being made for top-ranking civil service personnel. Military police in jeeps constantly patrolled the 15 mile road looking for violators. The highway was finally opened up for civilian use on October 4, 1949. There are currently plans to extend the Churchill–Roosevelt Highway from Wallerfield to Manzanilla as

696-461: The scenic Lady Young Road, and the East–West Corridor. Busy shopping areas are within walking distance. The busy bus route ( maxi-taxis abound) running parallel with the eastbound highway runs next to fifth street in Barataria and the Eastern Main Road runs between second and third streets. The bus route was originally built to provide access to and from Piarco International Airport in case of

725-463: The way was graded (a stark contrast to our roads today). Wilson Minshall , father of masman Peter Minshall , remarked “The new Roosevelt–Churchill Highway has swept across the country from Cumuto to a point near Laventille with the force of a flood rushing into a quiet valley. Cleared and graded but not yet surfaced, its naked earth weaves and interweaves protesting patterns under the wheels of army trucks and construction tractors that cannot wait until

754-675: Was a wireless operator with the local branch of the Royal Naval Reserve from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War . Thereafter, he moved north to Port of Spain , and from 1945 to 1950, worked for the Trinidad Guardian as a reporter and for a time on its literary page. In this period, he began writing stories and descriptive pieces, mostly under a variety of pseudonyms, including Michael Wentworth, Esses, Ack-Ack, and Big Buffer. Much of this early writing

783-535: Was awarded two Guggenheim Fellowships (in 1955 and 1968), an honorary doctorate from Warwick University in 1989, and in 1985 the honorary degree of DLitt by the University of the West Indies. In 1969 he was awarded the Trinidad & Tobago Hummingbird Medal Gold for Literature, and in 1994 he was (posthumously) given another national award, the Chaconia Medal Gold for Literature. In 2012 he

812-467: Was born in San Fernando in the south of Trinidad, the sixth of seven children. His father was a first-generation Christian Tamil Indian immigrant from Madras and his mother was a Christian Anglo-Indian . His maternal grandfather was Scottish and his maternal grandmother was Indian . Selvon was educated at Naparima College , San Fernando, before leaving at the age of 15 to work. He

841-563: Was completed in March 1942. Originally reserved for the US armed forces, the road was turned over to the Government of Trinidad and Tobago on October 24, 1949. The Churchill–Roosevelt Highway can be considered the most important highway in the country, running alongside the densely populated East-West Corridor , with an estimated population of 600,000. Because of this, it is often extremely congested. The Churchill-Roosevelt highway begins at

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