Former Democratic Labour Party (DLP) candidate Randall Rouse has voiced concern about the state of the damaged roads and bridges in the parish of St Joseph.
The DLP representative for St Joseph said the parish could potentially be cut off from the rest of the island should the deterioration of necessary passageways such as Lanes Bridge, Airy Hill Bottom, and Joy Road be allowed to continue.
He also drew attention to the risks that daily commuters were exposed to traversing several of the cracked roads and derelict bridges along the Scotland District.
“I want to draw to the attention of persons what is happening in St Joseph because there doesn’t seem to be any representation coming in regards to what is happening up here and I believe social and community issues should be closely followed up and advocated for and against,” he said.
Rouse spoke with the Nation during a guided tour along a few of the heavily affected roads and bridges in St Joseph, choosing to highlight some of the areas he believed needed close attention.
At Lanes Bridge, where a section of the bridge had been cordoned off by concrete barricades, there was a wide crack along the structure of the bridge.
“We had a problem with it back in the 1990s and this section was closed off for six years while they did gabion works and restarted the road,” explained Rouse.
“Here now, a couple of months later we realise the undermining starts at the centre of the bridge and it is actually pulling towards the gully so I made some representation and they came and they looked.
“Originally, they [put down] cans and then they realised that it was sinking more so then they came and put out the concrete barricades, but this is one of the main access [roads] to central St Joseph and if this bridge goes and then the other two which are Melvin Bridge and Airy Hill Bottom, if the two of them go this section will be without any access at all,” he said.
In Airy Hill, part of the bridge fell into the gully below, following a break in the integrity of the structure. Cans which were used as makeshift barricades tipped over into the gully below when part of the bridge fell. Left unattended, it became a site for illegal dumping where washing machines, toilet seats, tyres, chicken crates and bottles make up just some of the trash.
“Where people see someplace not being used and it looks derelict it is obvious they’re going to throw garbage and so on,” Rouse said.
With the bridge also a main passage for commuters, Rouse feared that heavy traffic would further weaken the structure.
Another area of concern, he said, was Joy Road, where a section was also cordoned off because of what appeared to be a small sinkhole.
Rouse said he feared the Scotland District road could collapse under the weight of heavy vehicles like trucks and buses.
When asked what he believed were the reasons for the deterioration of some of the roads, he pointed to a lack of preventative maintenance.
“If you don’t have preventative maintenance and you wait till everything breaks down the costs will be horrendous and that is exactly what is happening out here. There has been little preventative maintenance and now it has reached the stage where everything is at a challenging stage whereby if you were doing preventative maintenance you would be able to catch something before it gets too bad and the cost would not be as great as it is right now.
“Because right now, Mellows Hill and Joy Road, are . . . an expensive exercise and then if those are followed up by Lane Bridge and Bloomsbury, I don’t know how the economics will work out,” he said.
When the Ministry of Transport, Works & Water Resources (MTWW) was contacted for comment it was stated that the districts of Airy Hill, Lanes Bridge, Melvin Hill, and Horse Hill among others would be under investigation.
In their statement, the MTWW said it was in the process of conducting field assessments on several bridges and roads in the Scotland District to implement a number of short- and long-term solutions.
“The assessments are being conducted in collaboration with the team from the China National Complete Plant Import and Export Corporation Limited (COMPLANT), under the Scotland District Road Rehabilitation Project. Under the project, several roads and bridges in St Joseph have been listed for reconstruction or rehabilitation.
“At Mellows Hill, St Joseph, where a section of road recently collapsed due to land slippage, a team from the Haggatts/Belleplaine depot will prepare a bypass to ensure residents and motorists will continue to have access to the area. The ministry is working assiduously to implement both short- and long-term solutions to upgrading the ageing road infrastructure in St Joseph, which are impacted by steep topography and increased rainfall intensity.”