The main road that leads from Anchovy to Montego Bay, St James, is a nightmare for motorists and pedestrians alike. - Patrick Campbell/Freelance Photographer WESTERN BUREAU:
REHABILITATION WORK on the pothole-riddled Anchovy main road, St. James, should be completed in another two weeks, says the National Works Agency.
"The work should have been completed by early December but was delayed by a National Water Commission (NWC) pipe-laying project, which was initially slated for three weeks but went on for much longer," said Stephen Shaw, the NWA's community relations officer.
"The NWC is now finished with its work so we are now in a position to go ahead and complete the road rehabilitation," he said.
In acknowledging the nightmarish experience of using the road, which is the main thoroughfare between St. James and Westmoreland, Shaw said the contractors, Logan Surrey - a subsidiary of the Surrey Paving Co., had been instructed to make minor repairs ahead of the resumption of full rehabilitation work.
"While we were waiting on the NWC to complete their work, we asked the contractors to wet the road to reduce the dust nuisance and we also asked them to roll some of the sections that were extremely bumpy," said Shaw. "We understand the difficulties being faced by motorists and pedestrians but once we resume work, the problems they are now facing will quickly become history."
For motorists and pedestrians using the road, which is a National Roads Programme project, the last six weeks have been like an unplesant roller-coaster ride. Because of the bumps and craters, they are forced to travel almost at a snail's pace, which usually results in a pile-up of traffic. In addition, when it rains, the road surface is transformed into soupy marl.
"We no longer call it the Anchovy main road, we now call it 'Bounce About Avenue'," said Anthony Smith, a minibus operator, who uses the road daily. "We just take travelling on it as joke because we are not in a position to do better. The consolation is that once it is completed, we should have a fantastic road from Montego Bay to Savanna-la-Mar."
He has had many bad experiences, included being stranded for as much as an hour during peak traffic. But Smith said that on Saturday, when it rained and there was increased traffic on the road on account of a major entertainment event in the area, was by far the worst.
"It took me more than 90 minutes to cover about a mile," he said. "When I finally cleared the area, I felt as if I had just completed a most difficult day's work."
Stephen Shaw said the progress of the work was frustrating as the contractor had come within 48 hours of completing the project when the NWC representatives came in and started laying their pipes. Spokespersons for the NWC were unavailable for comment.
