Garth Rattray | The wrong legacy (conclusion)

The average citizen doesn't care which administration initiates 'progress'. We are all happy for the upgrading of our road system, but we need concomitant, concrete plans for a vastly improved public transport system.

The work is welcome, but the implementation sucks. Public sentiment is that the mad, discommodious rush is motivated by an expectation of kudos for 'progress' with time allowed for citizens to forget the distress and losses it caused. We all expected some dislocation and inconvenience, but the concurrent, multiple projects and uncaring execution of the work make us feel as if our Government is not protecting us.

Water sprinklers occasionally wet Constant Spring Road to reduce some of the dust nuisance. However, there needs to be much greater effort in that regard. But, up to the penning of this piece, I have not yet seen any wetting to reduce the persistent, humongous dust cloud severely plaguing everyone traversing, living or working along the active section of Hagley Park Road. My heart aches for the pedestrians and cyclists.

There are many ways to circumvent the obstructions on Hagley Park Road and the traffic pile-up on Waltham Park Road, but there are very few directional signs to get drivers back on the main roads. Additionally, accessible alternative routes are changed without warning or signage.

In attempting to avoid a total gridlock on Waltham Park Road, I ventured off the main road and attempted to follow other motorists who appeared to know a way around the blockage. Because of their speed and the oncoming traffic on the narrow roads, I lost them and ended up anxiously meandering in strange territories until I drove through someone's backyard to get out of the maze. At times, I felt endangered. I worry for the women who might end up in a similar predicament. We need many large and clear, constantly updated, directional detour signs and police patrols along the paths that drivers might take to get around traffic jams.

SERVICE INTERRUPTIONS

Then there is the vexing issue of the prolonged interruption (effective cessation) of telecommunications services, especially for the innumerable businesses whose survival depend entirely on telecommunications. FLOW complains that the contractors are ignoring their cautionary warnings to spare the lines and cables. However, if the construction project jeopardised the hub of that telecommunications giant, they would have moved Heaven and Earth to ensure that their service remained uninterrupted. They must do the same for us, their valued customers.

Road signs and landmarks help us find our destinations. I have had an office sign at the intersection with the main road since 1984. People use it to locate me. The sign attracts an annual 'billboard' fee that I must pay to the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation every December. I had been waiting to receive written notice from the contractors that they intend to temporarily remove my sign, but that did not happen.

Instead, on Wednesday, September 19, the construction team uprooted my sign and flung it atop a mound of dirt. Luckily, a neighbour alerted the office staff and they went to rescue it. They were informed that, had they not done so, the scrap metal men who have been gathering similarly discarded metal objects, would have harvested my expensive sign. The restoration time is indeterminate. The road sign is also gone and our inquiries regarding where it is and when it will be reinstalled bore no fruit.

We need dedicated telephone numbers or other means of communicating any problems or queries caused by the construction of the 'Legacy Roads'. As far as I am aware, there's none. Citizens badly affected by the projects feel as if they are abandoned and at the mercy of foreign contractors.

- Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and garthrattray@gmail.com.