It’s been a turbulent journey for residents of King Street, St Andrew who faced a long battle to have the road rehabilitated.
As far back as 2015 the residents in the rural district have made appeals for the road to be rectified. In November 2022, a section collapsed after heavy rainfall leading to some homes being compromised.
That was only one in a series of similar incidents, as another crumbled in May the following year, and then once more as recently as February this year.
Last week, another round of roadworks commenced in the area, under the Scotland District Road Rehabilitation Programme, carried out by the China National Complete Plant Import Export Corporation (COMPLANT) along with sub-contractor C.O. Williams Construction.
Following the road collapse of February, some residents in the rural district expressed anger and dismay at previous attempts to reconstruct the road.
Many of them charged that the installation of gabions to prevent the road from further slipping and deteriorating appeared to be an exercise in futility.
When the DAILY NATION returned to the area recently, however, some of the residents declined to comment, simply stating that they were fed up with talking. Those who spoke did so briefly and praised the work done by the C.O. Williams Construction in paving a section of the road.
Along King Street, the paved road meets the construction site where the C.O. Williams team was stationed with their bobcats and heavy-duty trucks, tackling the installation of a gabion.
“Ms Lowe”, one of the residents near the site, said she was pleased with the roadworks now that the C.O. Williams company has stepped in.
“At first the operation was pretty confusing but they making some progress and now it seems pretty good to me,” she said.
She added that during the period of ongoing road slippages, it was difficult to operate her recycling business due to the roadblocks.
Spokesperson for the community, Gloria Coward, expressed her satisfaction with the job done but lamented the slow rate of progress related to the road rehabilitation.
She also expressed concern with the delay in repairs to a bridge that served as the main point of access into Isolation Hill and King Street.
“Right now, if something happens in Isolation Hill, we have a serious problem up here. There’s nowhere out or in because the bridge that was formerly our main route for coming home was broken down,” Coward said.
To date, a section of the road has been paved with a binding course of asphalt, drainage interventions are set to be built in the area, and gabion construction will commence once that is finished.
A statement released by the Ministry of Transport and Works (MTW), outlined the work that will be undertaken throughout the area. High on the priority list was the installation of more effective drainage.
Culverts with grilles, kerbs, and catchment pits have been constructed along a section of the road and will continue to be built at intervals along the entire stretch.
These drainage solutions are designed to control the flow of runoff water and help restrict water accumulation in low sections of the road. Gabions are being built on the northern end, close to the cul-de-sac, while the design for gabion work in the central section of King Street has been completed.
The MTW statement said gabion construction will recommence in the area after the drainage interventions have been built. This work marks one of several attempts in the long-term goal of stabilising the road, which is often prone to slippage due to the high plasticity of clay in the district.
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