‘I don’t trust it one bit’

WESTERN BUREAU:

It took nine months for a bridge along Howard Cooke Boulevard in Montego Bay to again fall into disrepair after a $6-million rehabilitation project, which the National Works Agency (NWA) trumpeted was completed four weeks ahead of schedule.

Named after son of the soil and the fourth governor general of Jamaica, Howard Cooke Boulevard is one of the main arteries in the island’s tourism capital, running along the western coastline of the city. It falls under the first segment of the North Coast Highway, which was built by Korean firm Bosung Engineering in 2001.

The recurring issues with the bridge have raised safety concerns and damage to vehicles. Closures to effect repairs to the problematic section of the roadway in the vicinity of the Harmony Beach Park often result in more chaos on the already-often-congested nearby roadways such as Harbour Street.

It is a situation residents and civic leaders in the Second City are pressing the authorities to get a handle on as repairs have been carried out on the structure’s expansion joints at least three times since 2020, raising questions about money being wasted.

The frequent repairs have caused commuters to be sceptical of the soundness of the structure.

One delivery driver, who frequently traverses the city’s downtown commercial district, bluntly told The Sunday Gleaner that he does not trust the bridge.

“I do not trust it one bit,” he said, pointing to the recurring issue with the latest repairs carried out two weeks ago. “Now I am going to be afraid to drive on it and will be even more afraid to stop on it as it may just collapse.”

Another motorist, whose regular route takes her across the bridge, likewise voiced hesitation to continue using the thoroughfare.

“I am a little timid with regard to driving in that area. I am also suspicious as to why there is no accountability from the agency or company that just fixed the bridge less than a year ago and now it is already in disrepair. I feel like it might break any minute,” she admitted.

Prior to the repair work in June, the bridge was closed last August as the NWA addressed defective joints.

Two years before that, the state agency sought to fix a gaping hole in the structure, which commuters had complained about since 2017, as well as to address complaints of water settling along the roadway. An iron plate was welded along the exposed section of the roadway and drain-cleaning done to address the flooding issue.

The NWA, however, says there is no need to be fearful.

Communications Manager Stephen Shaw told The Sunday Gleaner that the recent repair work on the bridge’s expansion joint fell under the warranty period for the work done in 2022 by contractor J&L Equipment and Construction Services Limited.

“The work was undertaken through the same contract that it took place under last year because we are within the defects liability period, so the contractor did the work under the contract based on the defects liability, and it has not cost the Government any money,” said Shaw. “It was considered a defect, and so the contractor took on that work on the basis that the defect had to be remedied, and a warranty such as that would usually last about a year.

“Bridges are usually built to last 75 to 100 years, and structurally, there is nothing wrong with the bridge. As its name suggests, the expansion joint expands and contracts, especially at times when you have earth movements, and because we live in an earthquake environment, we build structures to have a certain degree of movement,” Shaw added. “Repairing an expansion joint does not necessarily mean that the bridge is defective. There is that small component of it that we have had an issue with, but the bridge is not falling down.”

Noel Whyte, managing director of Montego Bay-based engineering company N.O. Whyte and Associates Limited, likewise pointed to regular maintenance of bridges and other similar structures as key to their continued lifespan, though he was not prepared to speak specifically about the Howard Cooke bridge.

“Bridges are designed to certain international standards that define the sort of designed loads and expected loads over the lifetime of the bridge, and it depends on the bridge. It is a question that most engineers will [consider] in their design,” said Whyte. “There are so many other factors involved, because there is maintenance that has to be carried out on a regular basis. If the structure is not maintained, there could be issues in terms of the life cycle of the structure.”

But developer Mark Kerr-Jarrett, who has previously voiced concerns about the bridge, was livid when contacted by The Sunday Gleaner, calling for the NWA to act decisively to resolve the lingering concerns.

“This business with the expansion joints has to be remedied once and for all. We cannot continue to be fixing what is really a remedial problem on a continual basis, disrupting the flow of traffic in and out of the city and creating economic hardship for Montego Bay and the environs,” said Kerr-Jarrett.

“The NWA is responsible for the national infrastructure, and if this is the performance that we are to expect, it is unacceptable. [It] is the NWA’s responsibility to find a competent individual to effect the repairs; it is not our business to micromanage them,” Kerr-Jarrett added. “They are being paid to manage the infrastructure of the country, and they need to do it in an efficient way with regard to time and expense.”

When The Sunday Gleaner reached out to J&L Equipment and Construction Services, contractor Junior Minott declined to comment on the situation.

Montego Bay Mayor Leeroy Williams was only prepared to say that the bridge is the NWA’s responsibility and that when the need for its repair arose, he contacted the agency with instructions to fast-track the job.

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com