Bigwell Lane gets new roadway

Claudia Gardner, Assignment Coordinator

WESTERN BUREAU:Residents of Bigwell Lane in Lucea are to benefit from a new and improved roadway, which is being repaired under the Jamaica Emergency Employment Programme (JEEP), following submissions made on their behalf by Councillor of the Lucea Division Neville Clare.

The work began two weeks ago, and according to Clare, it is being conducted in response to complaints by residents that the road had deteriorated badly since the neighbouring Millers Drive, the road which runs adjacent to their community, was converted from two-way to single-lane traffic more than five years ago.

"We are raising the road level and are asphalting it so that when it is complete, they have a better road surface. This road was turned into a one-way by the local traffic authority," Clare told Western Focus in an interview last week.

Residents had also complained that since the conversion, the roadway has been used by motorists as an alternative route and a shortcut to enter the town centre instead of the longer route through Mosley Drive and that the resulting heavy traffic coming through the area was also becoming a source of noise pollution and the cause of accidents.

They also said large trucks had also torn down power lines and left them hanging close to the road surface, and they had called for restrictions on large vehicles using the roadway. They had also called for a reversal of the system. However, Clare said the traffic system would remain the same, except for a few restrictions, and dismissed the idea of placing sleeping policemen in sections of the road.

Clare said: "They (residents) don't want any through-traffic on the roadway, which is totally impossible because you have to have through traffic, and sleeping-policemen are a no-no across the road on any major thoroughfare. However, what we are going to do is put signs at the top of the road to say 'no heavy equipment or units' and 'no buses or trucks allowed in here'.

"We have a cross drain here which would reduce any speed, so anybody who comes from up the top will have to reduce their speed, so we don't need to put in any sleeping police," Clare added.