Bridge closure hurting St Mary residents

Christopher Serju, Gleaner Writer

BROMLEY, St Mary:

MILLICENT ANDERSON has time on her hands these days, a far cry from when she was kept busy operating the grocery and bar strategically located at the Bromley Square in St Mary, across from the postal agency, and within walking distance of the primary school. Destruction of Westmoreland Bridge more than five years ago, which linked her community to places such as Annotto Bay to the east, and Highgate in the opposite direction, has seen her fortunes and the livelihood of many other people dealt a severe blow.

The closure of the roadway, which was a key link to the nation's capital, has left residents of Bromley and neighbouring communities frustrated, some devastated, and Alston Shaw angry. He is particularly peeved at elected officials who have been unable or unwilling to provide a timeline as to when the roadway is likely to be be reopened.

Source of frustration

This uncertainty has been a major source of frustration for these residents who believe the policymakers are unaware of the far-reaching impact of the continued bridge closure.

"Yeah, man! It was a lifeline carrying you go Kingston, but since the bridge close, people hardly come, and it affect the businesses bad, bad. Everything paralyse," said Shaw.

"The sales went down, and the bills go up, so I had to close, because when you pay the bills, you have nothing, so you can't go back and buy," added Anderson.

With little more than rumours about when and how the bridge will be fixed, Anderson is frustrated since she cannot make any plans for reopening. She is convinced that given the number of communities and people affected, the Government has its road repairs priorities all wrong.

"To me, they spend the money not on the necessary things, because I have seen them fixing other places. Even down the gulf there, the road is bad, bad, you know, because they know that the bridge down there is not working. Then fix that one, nuh. When rain fall you can't even go down there because they used to have a footbridge there, but it went."

The 'gulf' to which she refers is the alternative route through Belfield.

christopher.serju@gleanerjm.com