THE COUNTRY'S road infrastructure has taken a battering over the past 14 months, as several hurricanes, tropical storms and other weather systems have dumped several inches of water on the island.
With virtually no parish left unscathed, the Government is hard-pressed to determine which area should be accorded greater priority over others and at the same time, make meaningful medium to long-term plans for the future.
It has become increasingly clear, however, that a major overhaul of some of the country's main arterial roadways is necessary, given their vulnerability to flooding and landslides.
As an example, traffic flow through the Bog Walk gorge, which provides the main link through St. Catherine to the island's north coast, is frequently disrupted whenever the Rio Cobre overflows its banks and renders the Flat Bridge impassable. The recent heavy rains and landslides have not only severely damaged road surfaces but have made the route a veritable obstacle course.
The motoring public is also frequently subjected to a nightmarish experience whenever there is an accident along Mount Rosser, forcing traffic going in either direction to a standstill.
We believe that the feasibility studies being done on an alternative highway connecting Bushy Park to Ocho Rios should be placed on a fast track, hopefully to get the process of constructing a new roadway started soon.
This road link has become too important to individuals and commerce for the situation to be allowed to continue as is, indefinitely. With more than 100 motorists being trapped in the gorge on Tuesday night as waters rose to dangerous levels at several points, we cannot afford to dither on this issue.
We believe, too, that in much the same way that the Government has taken a policy decision to enforce the mandatory evacuation of people living in areas vulnerable to storm surges along the island's coasts at the approach of a hurricane, it may have to consider enforcing a no-throughway policy for the gorge at critical times. Up to this point, the authorities have appealed to the public's better judgement to heed media warnings not to use the gorge. Clearly, some people are either ignorant of these warnings or are foolhardy. On occasions such as these, the Government will have to take steps to save people from themselves.
Addressing these problems will require a lot of capital but it is in the long-term interests of the Jamaican public that the process of dealing with these concerns begin immediately.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
