Workmen and passers-by on Old Hope Road, St. Andrew, watched yesterday as an employee of West Indies Home Contractors Limited (WIHCON) used a backhoe to clear dirt from a trench to lay a sewage pipe. - Ian AllenA COMBINATION of rain and construction activity slowed traffic heading into Liguanea for much of yesterday, but there was no major dislocation from the sewerage improvement project that got off the ground as scheduled.
Trench excavation by West Indies Home Contractors (WIHCON's) crew was ringed by safety tape and the traffic island in the commercial hub. Traffic flowed smoothly around the areas of digging and surveying.
Some motorists were confused about the new traffic arrangements, but this too was smoothed over by the presence of senior engineers from the Ministry of Transport and the National Water Commission who visited the site earlier in the day.
The Gleaner visited the area at about 2:30 p.m. and found that while there were fewer than usual cars and customers in Liguanea Plaza, everything else seemed to be proceeding well.
The National Water Commission is laying 500 metres of sewer lines, a $30 million project that is expected to last five months.
To facilitate the project, Old Hope Road, from its intersection with Wellington Drive to Matilda's Corner, has been transformed into one-way flow heading into Liguanea; Munroe Road and the lower section of Wellington Drive is also one way.
The roadway from the stoplights at Munroe Road to Matilda's Corner has also been blocked off. Traffic through Liguanea can only proceed up Hope Road.
