Some St Catherine residents protest over poor road conditions

Ruddy Mathison, Gleaner Writer 

Residents of six communities in West Central St Catherine this morning blocked a section of the Watermount main road that leads to Spanish Town, rendering it impassable to vehicular and pedestrian traffic.

They are demanding that the authorities put in place an adequate alternate route.

The residents complained that not enough was done to accommodate them before the bridge that links the communities to the main thoroughfare was demolished to facilitate the construction of a new structure.

Residents from communities such as Watermount, Garden Hill, Old Works, and Kentish were among the affected by the protest, which started from as early as 6 o'clock with persons using trees, rocks, drums, and other debris to block the roadway.

The residents say today's protest came after the alternate route set up during the period of the construction of the new bridge, which runs through private property, was blocked by the owner this morning.

The owner's action reportedly arose out of differences with the constituency's Member of Parliament Dr Christopher Tufton over compensation for the use of his property.

"I really don't blame the owner because the politicians should have put something in place before they destroyed the bridge. Right now if we have a sick in the community they can't come out and by the time we get them they would die on the way," said Steve Anderson, an affected resident.

"We were stunned, we never hear of anything like this. There is no road for us to come out or go home, we don't have anywhere to walk. Do you know where we have to walk? Through a gully," another resident, Silvia Wills Johnson, told The Gleaner.

She noted that residents are left marooned during periods of heavy downpour, which she said was the case with the passage of Tropical Storm Elsa earlier this month.

"We have to cross the gully course in the dark when we come off the taxis, anything can happen to us as women," said Cynthia, another affected resident.

"Now dem say dem a work on the bridge and only two somebody deh work, so mi nuh know when dem a go finish, when we a go get the bridge," she lamented.

Due to this morning's roadblock by residents, motorists had to park their cars and walk through a gully to reach the main road which leads to Spanish Town.

Among those seen making the journey were teachers and students going to Watermount Primary School.

Also, scores of commuters were left stranded.

Several attempts to contact Tufton were unsuccessful.

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