By Erica James-King, Senior Staff Reporter
Although the Spring Mount Road is officially closed to vehicular traffic, motorists continue to use that roadway. - Patrick Campbell/Freelance Photographer
THE REHABILITATION of the Spring Mount Road in South St. James will be completed within the $39-million budget, and way ahead of the new deadline of mid-August, set by the Transport Ministry.
Derrick Kellier, Member of Parliament for the constituency, is predicting that the rehabilitation of the roadway by Surrey Paving should be completed within four weeks.
Mr. Kellier explained that work on the road resumed in earnest since the past three weeks, on the heels of a re-alignment exercise carried out on the road by Public Works Engineers and Surveyors.
When The Gleaner caught up with Mr. Kellier at the construction site yesterday, he said, "We should be out of here within four weeks. We anticipate to beat the rains that we expect in June, because we are really in an area where water is prevalent when rain falls, and we are on a hill."
He notes that the work upgrading is proceeding satisfactorily: "The surveyors have been here today, they are plotting the final surface now. So sometime this week we should start putting on the marl base, and after that it's just a matter of maybe two weeks or so before they can put on the surface."
The Spring Mount Road suffered massive soil erosion about 16 months ago and again during December last year, rendering that thoroughfare dangerous and unfit for accommodating a high volume of traffic.
The alternate route from Montego Bay to Maroon Town is via Black Shop to Pattosie (is this the right spelling).
The Spring Mount roadway became impassable after heavy rains left a monstrous hole in the roadway, forcing over 12,000 residents of South St. James to use alternate routes to Montego Bay last year. Repair work with a price tag of $27 million began last August, and was to have come to an end by November the same year. However, sections of the roadway eroded following heavy rains, which resulted in the National Works Agency redesigning the project, which will now cost an additional $12 million.
In recent times, the Spring Mount Road has been fodder for charges and counter charges by the Jamaica Labour Party and the ruling People's National Party.
Transport Minister, Robert Pickersgill, a few weeks ago took the JLP to task for comments made on the contractors and Government expenditure on the project. Mr. Pickersgill contended that he had no problem with calls by the JLP for the Auditor-General to investigate the work on the Spring Mount Road, claiming that the record on the programme speaks for itself.
Meanwhile, some residents of Springfield and Kensington are this week forecasting a bleak future for the Spring Mount Road. They are contending that proper groundwork would have revealed that there is a natural waterway in the area marked for repairs, which aids in the erosion of the topsoil. The residents believe that the entire roadway will eventually vanish, and they have suggested that the authorities look at other options.
