Dennie Quill, Contributor
THE ISLAND'S road network is showing catastrophic damage from the recent pounding by rains associated with Hurricane Wilma. And there are indications that the repair of Hurricane Ivan road damage of 2004 is not yet complete. The bill to fix the roads will be a huge one.
I only heard of one fatality which suggests that we are heeding the timely warnings provided by the media and emergency services and people are taking the necessary evacuation steps. That augurs well for our hurricane-healthy future since weather specialists have predicted that we are going to see hurricane damage like never before in the years ahead.
But, as I watched the news and drove around several communities, I was amazed at how poorly our roads have performed. I have been asking myself the question: Was the attributable road damage commensurate with the intensity of the rains?
The other question is whether the forceful waters have served to expose shoddy workmanship which was always lying just below the surface.
BIDDING CONTRACTS
I don't know how the bidding protocol works when these road repair contracts are being awarded, but perhaps the powers that be need to re-examine these methods to ensure that the bid is not awarded to the cheapest contractor or the one who will make the largest political contribution, but the one that is most competent.
Road construction must take into account hurricane hazards and other engineering specifics which I believe require more brain than brawn.
To my untrained eyes, the quality of workmanship on some of our roads leaves much to be desired. Today, they are patched and tomorrow, cracks begin to appear. There are some potholes that have become famous (corner of Knutsford Boulevard and Trinidad Terrace) because of the many failed attempts to fix them.
We all know that the cheapest is never the best. And when we award contracts to the lowest bidder, we can expect to get work consistent with the price. There is an old saying: You get what you pay for.
I hope the Bureau of Standards plays a prominent role in ensuring that road design standards are maintained. And where the workmanship is not acceptable, the road should be rejected and the contractor be compelled to correct shoddy work.
Usually we hear grand announcements about contracts being awarded, but never have I seen the engineers publicly inspecting the work and pronouncing it as having passed muster.
ROAD DESIGN
On Sunday, I saw one battered road in the Kingston 6 area where the asphalt had peeled off, revealing piles of gravel and aggregate, all of which were swept down the hillside and deposited on the roadway.
I also observed another section of the road which had been patched only a week before the rains began, now totally undermined by erosion and posing a great hazard.
So, while the authorities go about assessing the road damage, should they also be looking at ways of upgrading once and for all the minimum road design standards which are currently being followed?
Should they be revisiting the standards set for types of aggregate used, pavement depth, quality of material, type of drainage systems, etc? Their main purpose should be to protect lives and property.
Rain-damaged road is a fact of life in Jamaica so the answer must be to design roads which are less vulnerable to the impact of torrential rains. We cannot keep the raging waters at bay, but we can minimise the impact.
Here is an opportunity to bring together our best engineering minds who should be given a mandate to undertake a comprehensive examination of roads, bridges and other infrastructure, make their recommendations, which may include imposing higher design standards where they are required.
HEAVY-DUTY TRAFFIC
My other concern has to do with the activities of heavy-duty traffic including oil tankers, the massive construction semis, etc.
There is no doubt that they contribute to the worsening condition of our roads.
Years ago, I heard talk about a weigh station somewhere in the region of Ferry. As I understood it, vehicles above a certain weight were charged additional fees for using the roads. I never confirmed whether this was so, but I have never noticed any weighing of vehicles there.
The time has come for the authorities to exert regulatory pressures such as imposing a heavy-duty tax on operators of these vehicles to ensure that they contribute to road repairs caused by them.
Dennie Quill is a veteran journalist who may be reached at denniequill@hotmail.com
