York Town residents bemoan rough road conditions
Published:Tuesday | April 26, 2022 | 12:10 AMOlivia Brown/Gleaner Writer
Irate taxi operators and residents blocked a section of the York Town road in Clarendon yesterday morning, disrupting commute and forcing some students to miss the first day of the summer term.
The protesters argued that heavy-duty vehicles transporting material to the site of the construction of a bridge in Foga Road have been causing their road surface to deteriorate rapidly. This, they complained, is made worse by units transporting sand mined at quarries in the area.
Stephen Edwards, managing director of the National Road Operating and Constructing Company (NROCC), which is constructing the bridge as part of the May Pen to Williamsfield leg of Highway 2000, has rejected the blame.
“The poor road conditions is as a result of poor road maintenance and the continuous traversing of overloaded haul[age] trucks that are in the area, so that has nothing to do with the bridge at Foga Road at all,” he told The Gleaner yesterday, adding that his team was seeking to arrange a meeting with residents late Monday.
Taxi operator chided political representatives for their poor representation.
“Years wi a suffer fi road, and no councillor, no MP (member of parliament) ... . Wi suffering bad. ... Everybody wi call to, dem nuh attend to us. Wi even ask dem to scrape the road down to a nice level an’ wi good,” bemoaned Clarke, who added that a previous 10-minute trip from the bridge in Foga Road to York Town has turned into a 30-minute crawl on the poor road surface.
“If a pregnant mother call out fi have baby, she a guh have baby in a di car,” he said.
Asking quarry operators to help
Clarke’s colleague, Kenrick Myles, said that he had to spend $20,000 to repair his vehicle just last week after it was damaged while traversing the area.
He called on quarry operators to help to address the issue, adding that their operations were worsening the situation.
“Dem need fi do something ‘bout the road. Dem a mek all the money out a the riverbed and dem nah put back nutten in a di community,” Myles argued.
A group of teachers of the Garvey Maceo High School in Vernamfield stood helplessly by the roadside observing the protest.
“It is very hard for us as motorists, as you can hardly find a drivable space on this road. It is very, very bad. The wear and tear that we have to endure is overbearing, so we want something to be done about the current road conditions,” one told The Gleaner.
Clarendon South Western MP Lothan Cousins agreed that the road surface had deteriorated since the start of the highway project, adding that he has been trying to have the NROCC address the situation.
“Numerous letters have been sent to NROCC and NWA (National Works Agency) to bring the issue of the deteriorating road condition to their attention,” the MP told The Gleaner, adding that a planned April 12 tour by officials to assess the situation was rescheduled to April 27.
“Numerous community consultation meetings have been held and commitments given by NROCC that the roads that have been adversely impacted by the highway construction would be reinstated. These include ... Foga Road, Denbigh Drive, Comfort Road, Decoy Road, Duke Street, [and] St Jago Road. The trucks from the highway transporting material to and from the site, especially during the rainy season, have decimated the roads,” said Cousins.
He said that the NROCC has given a commitment to repair the roads upon completion of the highway construction.
“ ... There are a number of sand-mining operations in the area that have also contributed to the state of destruction of the roads. The trucks are clearly overloaded and little to no oversight provided to ensure that the trucks transporting sand from these quarries are weighed and are compliant with national standards,” he said, supporting the claims by the protesters.
The taxi operators said that if the roads are not repaired in a timely manner, they will continue to withdraw their services.