Carl Murray | SE Coast Highway - Punished while we wait

Every time there is a pronouncement about road repairs we, the people of St Thomas, pay attention because we anxiously await the start of the promised road improvement for the parish.

On April 16, 2018, The Gleaner published an article that, in part, said:

"The National Works Agency (NWA) says the Ferris Cross to Mackfield main road in Westmoreland is being rehabilitated under a US$24.9-million (J$3.04-billion) contract.

The project is being executed through the Major Infrastructure Development Programme.

The 13-kilometre-long Ferris to Mackfield main road is part of the link between St James and

St Elizabeth.

It is also the main route linking Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland, to Montego Bay, St James.

Community relations officer for the NWA's Western Region, Janel Ricketts, says the project involves the widening of sections of the road.

We were promised by the previous administration that the highway would start March 2016, with full computer graphics of the proposed path. At a town hall meeting at the Goodyear compound, we were told that the design would be completed by December 2017 and taken to Parliament and construction started early in 2018. There has been no indication that this will actually take place.

STILL NO ACTION

It is now May and I see no heavy equipment near St Thomas even as a sign that something is happening to forward the intent of building the highway.

Town-hall meetings do not count. Why are we continuously fed this information, and yet, no one takes the responsibility to deliver on these utterances? Why are the people of St Thomas treated with this disrespect and disdain?

The objection of the original plan was based on 'voodoo' economics, the highway was abandoned, then it went on to four lanes to Yallahs, to widening, realigning and straightening of corners, and now to whatever happens next. How can these pronounces be made and then changed so radically in such quick succession? Someone is not doing their due diligence, or someone is stonewalling this project.

St Thomas borders St Andrew, but driving along the corridor from Harbour View to Bull Bay, going into St Thomas, you would believe you entered a different, underdeveloped, country. The roads from there, going to Morant Bay and proceeding on to Port Antonio, are peppered with potholes, uneven surfaces, and breakaways. This is only the main road, but if we for a moment include the road from Morant Bay to Cedar Valley, we will see that a section of the road literally runs through a cow pasture, and in a section leading from the town of Seaforth, going westerly towards the bridge, there is no road there, just giant holes and mounds. Note that there are at least three major manufacturing entities along this corridor.

One of the reasons we are continually ignored may be that the decision makers in the Government do not travel on these roads, or they have no conscience. I urge any of them, including personnel from the National Works Agency, to travel on the road from Harbour View to Morant Bay and with a clear conscience deny us of the South East Coast Highway.

 - Carl Murray is an engineer. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and cxmmurray@yahoo.com.