‘We can’t have people living like this’

The condition of the Lyssons main road in St Thomas continues to be a source of frustration for the locals with students attending the primary school in the community and general commuters among those affected.

Whenever heavy rains lash the eastern parish, the potholes along the roadway become filled and it takes days – if not weeks – for the water to eventually evaporate.

The situation is exacerbated by the fact that there is little to no pavement on either side of the road for pedestrians to walk.

As the dirt mounds along the roadway turn into clumps of mud, the children and pedestrians are forced to tread warily due to the possibility of sliding and having a terrible fall.

During last Thursday’s monthly meeting of the St Thomas Municipal Corporation (StTMC), Morant Bay Mayor Hubert Williams (People’s National Party, White Horses division) raised the issue as he bemoaned the roadway’s poor condition, calling for it to be addressed urgently,

“It is a shame and disgrace and a disrespect to the people of St Thomas,” Williams told fellow councillors.

He further stated that because of the conditions, the travel time for commuters has been lengthened as traffic builds up rather quickly.

“If yuh [don’t] get out of the house early, yuh in serious trouble. Evening time, the backup of traffic, it’s a shame,” Williams said. “And then you know what’s insult to injury? The other night I see examiners out there seizing people’s vehicles under that condition ... after they give us no roads to drive on.

“We need to get that space sorted out. We can’t have a set of people living like this, man. It’s really, really bad,” said Williams, who argued that the poor condition of the road was hindering both the parish’s production and the productivity of its residents.

MAKING RELEVANT CALLS

Williams said he would be making the relevant calls to deal with the situation as the current state of the roadway was not “drivable”.

Also speaking on the matter was councillor Rohan Bryan (People’s National Party, Morant Bay division).

“You see, this is one of the reason[s] why we are so behind on so many things. For example, NWA (National Works Agency) not coming to any of our meetings for how many years now ... and at the same time, we here have been trying to figure out what happening,” he said.

Bryan also lamented that the National Water Commission would often dig up roads that have been recently paved to lay pipes and leave them in disrepair.

“We’re tired of this and I’m just saying again: ‘Stop take St Thomas people for fools’,” he charged.

“This has been an issue for too long and if we don’t have the proper guidelines and the proper contractors to do the work, walk broad [and] go find the good contractors to do the work. This is totally unacceptable,” added Bryan.

When The Gleaner visited the area, residents shouted “a long time we want it fix”, while others expressed dissatisfaction at the seeming neglect.

One resident, who sells market produce along the roadway, told The Gleaner that the pupils of Lyssons Primary School were often inconvenienced and forced to walk in the dirt, grass or the occasional mud alongside the road on their way to and from school.

“You see a morning time with the kids dem and at evening time, oh my gosh! Mi sorry fi the likkle pickney dem,” she said, adding that she feared that one of the youngsters could fall into the murky water or nearby street gutter.

“It is not [a] nice [situation] and you nah see nobody fi talk to, and you know the funniest thing ya now? If we ever get up and block it, [people would] say [it’s] politics,” she reasoned.

Lyssons Primary Principal Evette Beecher described the road as “unsightly” .

“It’s not looking good ... . It’s bad, and [the potholes are] deep and the water had been there since Monday and it seems to me that no evaporation is taking place. I don’t know what is really happening,” she said last Thursday.

asha.wilks@gleanerjm.com