Barbican Way residents teeter on edge of danger
Published:Thursday | January 20, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Laura Redpath, Senior Gleaner Writer
It seemed like a regular afternoon as schoolchildren and community members made their way along Barbican Way in Liguanea, St Andrew, yesterday.
However, caution and fear linger as residents try not to tread too heavily on a section of the road that links one gully bank to another.
The one-lane pseudo-Flat Bridge, with signs of crumbling, is like a bad omen hanging over the gully.
In two cases, residents have witnessed cars rolling backwards and almost going over the edge because of the lack of safety rails.
"And a blind man almost walked off the edge. He got right to the edge and a youth had to scream, 'Yow, come back! Yuh ah go inna di gully!'" said one resident, who identified himself as Dwayne.
Dwayne said he was concerned about senior citizens and children who play in the area.
So is Donna Burke.
"Of course, I'm worried about my grandchildren," said the grandmother of six.
Two of them reside in the Barbican Way area.
"The gully needs to be paved again. Is pure patching," Burke said, standing beside the remains of a shop and home - damage created by tropical depression 16 (which would later become Tropical Storm Nicole) in late September last year when the gully overflowed its banks.
Water in the gully, also containing trees and other debris, has created a channel in the ground and Jacqueline Azan, managing director of the nearby Azmart, described incidents in which water flooded the basement of the store.
Call for probe on gully
Azan said she was worried about cracks in the building and called in an engineer to inspect the infrastructure.
After investigating, Azan said the engineer realised the problem was with the gully.
"(The engineer) was the one saying that this is not a joke. This is a crisis," she said. "Nicole taught us a lot and we're calling for the city engineer to look at the gully."
Member of Parliament Delroy Chuck said Barbican Way, which is in need of rehabilitation, has been on his list of priorities for the last two years.
"I've been begging the NWA (National Works Agency). They keep telling me there is no money and, up to now, this has not been fixed," Chuck told The Gleaner yesterday evening.
Errol Greene, town clerk of the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation, said he would have to review the relevant documents today before being able to comment on the situation.