Frustration caused bridge delay boils over in Portland
Published:Friday | April 1, 2022 | 12:08 AMGareth Davis Sr/Gleaner Writer
BUFF BAY, Portland:
Residents of at least three adjoining communities in the Buff Bay Valley of Portland yesterday staged a protest seeking to get the authorities to pay urgent attention to a bridge in Craig Mill, which is in a deplorable state.
Shortly after 8 a.m., the residents mounted roadblocks along the main road in the vicinity of the Woodstock Bridge as they pleaded for action from Portland Western Member of Parliament Daryl Vaz.
Cathlene Hill, who resides in Craig Mill, said that for far too long, they have been forced to walk through a riverbed to enter or leave several communities in the area as the century-old bridge, which has been deemed unsafe, was closed more than two years ago.
Work had reportedly been undertaken to improve the condition along the riverbed, allowing for vehicular and pedestrian traffic, but heavy rains on Tuesday washed away the rehabilitated surface, leaving residents marooned.
On Wednesday, several residents of Belvedere, White Hall, and Craig Mill were unable to enter or leave their communities as the water levels rose dangerously high.
The National Works Agency (NWA), which had ordered the bridge closed, temporarily opened the roadway leading to the structure to accommodate pedestrian traffic.
Although the rains have subsided, the access route via the riverbed remains impassable due to the water levels.
Yesterday, Vaz said he was disappointed by the protest, which not only brought a halt to commerce in the parish but also further disrupted commute with hourslong traffic jams.
“I am a very approachable member of parliament, and I have been in touch with the residents on this matter as it relates to a bridge that leads to the communities of Craig Mill, Belvedere, and White Hall,” Vaz said, adding that procurement has already been done for the $107-million replacement bridge, which will be addressed in the new financial year.
“In the interim, I have made a bypass that has been maintained, and really, the only problem that arises is when the river is in spate, which it is now. The NWA has condemned the original bridge and blocked it for safety reasons. I have no control over that,” he told The Gleaner.
“Based on the situation that we face, as it relates to the cost of the bridge, no amount of demonstrations is going to make that bridge to be erected overnight. It is a process, and it’s is in process, and that is the commitment that I have given,” Vaz said, labelling the protest as “unproductive”.
NWA CEO E.G. Hunter told The Gleaner that erecting the new structure is high on the agenda of that state-run agency.
“Until then, we continue to lobby, but we work within a framework where we make technical and financial representations, and to the extent that those technical and financial representations can be accommodated, then we implement,” he added.
He noted that over the past eight years, an average of $70 million had been allocated annually for bridge works, “so when you have that as an average allocation and one bridge that is $107 million, it does take some doing to be able to accommodate it”.
Added Hunter: “While a demonstration is an expression of people’s desire and perhaps their frustration, it is hardly persuasive. ... There are a lot of demands, and we don’t need a public demonstration to tell us that a bridge is required.”