Woodsville residents construct their own bridge

WESTERN BUREAU:

NECESSITY IS the mother of invention. That is an idiom commonly used and is now proven by the residents of Woodsville, in Hanover eastern, a deep-rural community that also falls in the Hopewell division in the Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC).

Residents have constructed a wooden bridge that now serves their community, following the collapse over two years ago of the over 100-year-old original bridge that spanned the Cabarita River, which runs through that community. The bridge serves as the main connecting thoroughfare between Woodsville district and areas in Westmoreland, St James, and also leads to the Hanover capital, Lucea.

The original Woodsville Bridge began to show signs of structural compromise in April of 2022 following bouts of heavy rain in the area. Nothing was done to remedy the situation, and as such, the bridge finally collapsed one year later, on Friday, April 7, 2023.

With the National Works Agency (NWA) and the HMC declaring the bridge closed for vehicular and pedestrian traffic, the over 1,500 residents of the area decided to help themselves.

They built a temporary bridge from logs and trees in the area with the help of as many community members who were willing and able to help.

“We had to do this as the authorities do not appreciate or understand the hardships the collapsing of the bridge has brought on this community, socially, educationally, economically, and health-wise,” one community member told The Gleaner while on a recent visit to the community.

The wooden bridge built by the community has been in place for over a year now, with community members doing minor improvements and refurbishing as time goes along.

Visitors to the island and locals alike use the bridge en route to the Mayfield Falls, a waterfall attraction located between Woodsville and Bath Mountain, Westmoreland.

While visiting the area recently, The Gleaner team spotted a visiting couple from France who were driving a rented car across the wooden bridge on their way to the Mayfield Falls. They claimed that they did not know that the bridge was closed and were driving on the wooden structure at their own risk.

‘Road Closed’ signs that were posted by the NWA and the HMC in the vicinity of the original bridge have been removed.

Businessman Enock Bekaroo, who assisted in the construction of the wooden bridge now in place, explained that the community had to build the structure in their own interest.

HELPING OURSELVES

“I supply cooking gas to the districts of Woodsville, Cold Spring, Pondside, and Cascade, and when I am to deliver gas to these districts and to use the alternate route (that the NWA has stipulated), it takes me one and a half hour as against 10 minutes if I use this bridge,” Bekaroo stated.

“I have been driving on it (wooden bridge) very often. Even Coaster bus drive on it. We just have to do something to help ourselves as no one cares about us in these parts of the country,” he stated.

He pointed out that he used his truck to take trees and planks to the site of the collapsed bridge, and with the help of residents they constructed the structure now in place.

“I had to drive all the way round to Cascade and draw those trees out of some gully with the truck. Those trees are all 45 feet long, and I draw them to the site here,” he stated.

“It (building wooden structure) was hard work. Quite a few of us community members did it,” he boasted.

He argued that the wooden structure now in place can serve up to one year, after which, if there is no assistance from the Government to put a proper bridge in place, the wooded one will have to be refurbished with newer trees.

“Is seven trees we put under the structure to hold it up, so we have to check it regularly, and if they are showing any signs of decay, we have to get new trees to put under there,” he stated.

It was pointed out that the police and other emergency units have to use the wooden structure whenever they are going through the area as the alternative route is long, with little or no road surface and even more dangerous than using the wooden bridge.

Residents told The Gleaner that a team from the NWA visited the area several months ago and took samples of the soil at the bridge site, stating that they would be doing tests that would help to decide what type of bridge is placed in the area.

“From that we no hear nothing more from them,” one resident pointed out.

bryan.miller@gleanerjm.com