Funds in place to repair collapsed Woodsville bridge

WESTERN BUREAU:

RESIDENTS OF Woodsville, Flower Hill and Hillsbrook, in Eastern Hanover, should be breathing a sigh of relief, at the recent announcement of a government allocation of some $75 million, towards the replacement of the collapsed Woodsville bridge.

In an interview with The Gleaner, Member of Parliament for the Hanover Eastern constituency, Dave Brown, noted the announcement of the allocation was made by Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Everald Warmington, in his most recent sectoral debate presentation.“I have spoken to the prime minister and the relevant minister, and as such the money has now been allocated. It’s just left for the process to be completed and it goes to tender,” Brown outlined.

Brown appealed for further patience from the residents of that area, noting that the allocation is just one step in a many-layered process, with other aspects yet to be completed.

“Where it is now, is that the soil testing was done (in the area). They did the first phase of the design (of the bridge), and it is now on to the second phase of the design. That’s where it really is, (at) the design stage right now,” he pointed out. He said that nothing further will be done until the design stage of the bridge has been finalised, and the project goes to tender.

He made reference to the collapsed bridge in Troy, Trelawny, pointing out that that bridge has been out for over three years, but the residents there must now await the completion of the necessary processes before they can get a replacement bridge.

“It cannot go to tender until the design works have been done and approved,” he emphasised. He cautioned that even after the tender process, there will have to be time given for its construction.

DECLARED UNSAFE

The over-100-year-old Woodsville bridge, located along a key thoroughfare for the residents of several deep-rural districts, began to show signs of deterioration following bouts of heavy rain in April 2022. The bridge was declared unsafe for use then, by the Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC) and the National Works Agency (NWA), but residents continued to use the bridge, claiming that transportation cost, distance and bad road conditions rendered the proposed alternate route impractical.

The bridge eventually collapsed one year later, in April 2023, and the situation has since been a point of contention.

They (the residents) complain of the time it was taking for something to be done about the collapsed bridge, even as the elderly, the sick, children, business community and travelling public from within the adjoining communities were being inconvenienced.

Devon Brown, councillor for the Hopewell division in the HMC, the division in which the Woodsville bridge is located, informed that repairs or rehabilitation of bridges are outside of the corporation’s scope of operation.

Residents of the area have since constructed a temporary footbridge across the river that flows under the collapsed bridge, to allow them continued access to the adjoining districts.