Open sidewalk trenches a present danger along Main Street, Lucea

WESTERN BUREAU:

“It’s like a death trap, or walking in a minefield,” one operator of a business along Main Street, Lucea, told The Gleaner about the walk along that thoroughfare in the Hanover capital.

What was supposed to be a multifaceted, multimillion dollar project financed by the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) with over five million dollars ($5 million) assigned for sidewalk improvement, has now taken on a negative effect as the unfinished work is creating more havoc and danger, than good.

While not stating the other areas of the project, Mayor of Lucea Sheridan Samuels told The Gleaner that the sidewalk improvement aspect of the project started in November 2022, and was slated to be completed by the end of May, 2023.

Checks by The Gleaner have revealed, however, that as at July 2023 the project is still not complete.

“The project entails covering the drains coming into the town (Lucea) from the GV Gas station, to box them up to make space for pedestrians to use instead of walking in the roadway,” Samuels stated.

“The water in those drains is also stagnant and present a sore eye when viewed, as if the drains are not being cleaned. So we are concentrating on giving the town a facelift, giving pedestrians somewhere to walk, and making the drains easier to be cleaned,” he said, outlining the aim of the project.

What is present on the over 200 metres of roadway that leads into the town today, however, is a section showing an attempt to use concrete to create box drains, with several openings on the top of the drains, with no covers installed in some areas. Other areas have the steel from the sidings of the boxing sticking up in the air, presenting a clear and present danger to all pedestrians who venture along that roadway.

“It’s a miracle that no one has fallen into one of those open drains yet, or probably I should say I have not yet witnessed it,” one pedestrian, who says he goes by the name ‘Pressa’, told The Gleaner.

“It’s a lucky thing we do not have any visually impaired person trying to move about in Lucea because every day they would end up in hospital with broken or fractured limbs from injuries received along Main Street,” he continued.

Councillor for the Lucea division in the Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC), Easton Edwards, in an interview with The Gleaner, argued that he has already related the evident danger to the relevant department within the agency.

“I have seen it myself, and I am hoping that the officer responsible for the project will expedite matters. I know that the rains are upon us and so that would have hindered the movement of the project, but even with that the workmen need to understand that they need to move expeditiously,” he stated.

Acknowledging that the roadway is dangerous to pedestrians, Edwards argued that he will be making every effort to find out what, apart from the rains, is holding up the completion of the project, as the original deadline for completion has passed. Additionally, he expressed that even though the deadline has been extended at least once, the project seems to have stalled.

In the meantime, pedestrians have to be extra cautious while walking along Main Street, Lucea, as danger lurks within and beside the newly constructed concrete drains.