UPDATE ON ROAD CLEARING ACTIVITIES

The island’s road network, aspects of which were devastated during the passage of hurricane ‘Ivan’ is being restored to normality in some cases and to single lane access in others.

To date, 642 reports of blocked roads have been received with 332 or approximately 50% opened thus far. This figure is further broken down into 208 having single lane access and 124 totally cleared. 770 road sections on the main road network were damaged while 1,400 parish council roads were affected. As the days go by and more people have telephone access, it is expected that the number of reported blocked roads will increase.

Speaking at a Press Briefing at the National Works Agency’s Corporate Office on Friday, September 17, 2004, Minister Robert Pickersgill noted that the island’s ‘A’ Roads or main arterial roadways around the island are now fully open and that goods and services can now move from the major distributive centers across the island with greater frequency and more ease. The Minister also highlighted the fact that the National Works Agency (NWA) has been charged with the responsibility of providing at least single lane access to all roads in the island during an emergency such as Hurricane ‘Ivan’. In this respect, the NWA is to develop a priority system to ensure that critical services vital to returning the nation to normality are made available in the shortest possible time. This will see increased levels of collaboration between the NWA, the Parish Councils and KSAC.

Requests for clearance of roads must be made through the Emergency Response Centre and the Regional Manager of the NWA who has full responsibility for the deployment of equipment. Priority areas include:

• Communities that have been cut off
• The provision of critical services, such as hospitals, shelters, water facilities
• Power facilities and large commercial centers
  

Despite the efforts of the NWA team, there are still some areas where the roads are not cleared due to flooding, or breakaways of significant magnitude. Such is the case in Westmoreland in the following communities:

1. Seaforth Town to Pisgah
2. Bethel Town to Lamb’s River;

The alternative route for the former is Ashton through Dundee and for the latter, it is Bethel Town through York. It is to be noted that the partial single lane access on the alternative routes is not more than 5ft.

In St. Catherine, the:

• Sligoville main road is closed because of a breakaway that worsened during the passage of Hurricane Ivan. The contract for building a retaining wall was awarded a few weeks before the hurricane.
• Williamsfield to Glengoffe is blocked at Mt. Industry by large boulders and extensive landslips
• The Big Pond near Old Harbour in St. Catherine has flooded its banks and has made the road from Old Harbour to Bartons, impassable

In St. Andrew, the Coopers Ridge to Hardware Gap was previously cleared but reports are that a huge landslip has since occurred between Irish Town and Hardware Gap. That slippage also involved huge boulders and the road completely impassable. There is no alternative route.

In Clarendon, the following roads have massive breakaways:

• Mocho to Frankfield
• Sandy River to Macknie and
• Grantham to Trout Hall main road

On these roads small vehicles are being allowed on the single lane entrance.

In St. James, these roads have various problems associated with them:

• Point to Flamstead road is impassable because of a breakaway at Tangle River that has cut the road in two. The alternative route is through Maroon Town and Vaghansfield.
• Flamstead to Mocho is impassable as a result of culverts that have left a cavern of over 4 feet across the roadway.
• Montpelier to Cambridge is blocked at three sections-Bickersteth, Seven Rivers and Cambridge High School as the roads are flooded.
• Falmouth to Springvale is flooded at Logwood Valley. The alternative route is Gayle’s Valley to Hampden to Wakefield.
• Ulster Spring to Stettin is blocked in two sections at Freeman’s Hall.

In St. Elizabeth, the Thornton to Appleton main road is blocked at the bridge at Appleton. Vehicular traffic is not currently allowed; in the meantime however, Appleton Estate’s CEO Robert Henriques has arranged a jetty to ferry people across until the water recedes.

In terms of bridges, there was not much damage to these structures, however, some storm surges associated with the hurricane removed minor amounts of fill to the front of the south abutment of the Portmore Causeway. Some rock boulders were also displaced but the bridge abutments which are supported on piles have not been affected. The rock armour will be replaced at the front of the abutment as part of the NWA’s ongoing bridge maintenance programme.

The well over 10,000km of road belonging to the Ministry of Local Government is blocked in many places. A schedule is currently being developed with a view to effecting restoration to these roads over the next few weeks.

Estimates concerning damage to the roads are still being compiled but the Prime Minister has advised that no announcement be made until figures are properly tabulated.