Potholes galore driving Hanover residents crazy
Published:Monday | August 26, 2024 | 12:05 AMBryan Miller/Gleaner Writer
Western Bureau:
Residents of Hanover are hopping mad about the pothole-riddled state of the main roads in the parish, especially the stretch of roadway from Great River in the eastern section to Negril, Westmoreland, which they say is not only damaging their vehicles but is also the primary contributor to a spate of recent traffic accidents.
The police in Hanover recently made a public call on the authorities to repair the roads, which they say are impacting their mobility.
Becasue of the horrible state of the roads, many motorists have damaged their vehicles trying to skip potholes.
Lucea Mayor Sheridan Samuels, who is also the chairman of the Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC), has joined the growing list of persons drawing attention to the major potholes, which some residents have unofficially named after the parish’s two members parliament (MPs), Dave Brown in Hanover Eastern, and Tamika Davis in Hanover Western.
“The main roads are the responsibility of the National Works Agency (NWA) and the MPs,” said Samuels. “We at the HMC do not have the resources to do those works, and it is sad to know that the main roads are in such a condition when the government is trying to implement the SPARK programme, under the control of the members of parliament, when they are already not fulfilling their obligations with respect to the main roads.”
The SPARK programme, which is a new rural parochial roads improvement programme, is set to come on stream in a matter of months. It will be financed by the central government with the NWA as implementing agency.
“The condition of the roads is very serious, and it is not just the main road in Lucea, it is from Montego Bay to Negril, and the potholes areas are the ones that are causing the majority of the problems now,” Samuels told The Gleaner. “It is sad to know that the roads are in that deplorable condition and persons with the responsibility to do something has been passing over them daily and doing nothing about it.”
Justices of the peace (JPs) in Hanover have been using the group’s social media page to voice their concerns about the conditions of the main roads across the parish. Some have even been highlighting damages to their own vehicles and those of other family members. They have also highlighted a recent accident in which two visitors to the island were injured when the vehicle in which they were travelling crashed while trying to evade a pothole.
“While I show empathy to the injured visitor, I am greatly concerned for the safety of ourselves as Hanoverians. We have no recourse but to trod the same rugged terrain daily. I, at one point, lost two tyres during a heavy downpour of rain,” one of the JPs wrote.
Shermaine Anderson-Gayle, president of the Hanover Chamber of Commerce (HCC), told The Gleaner that her organisation is very concerned about the state of the road and, like those who are already complaining, will be going public with their concerns.
“I think that the road condition is in a deplorable state, it’s in a very bad state, and I am at the point of embarrassed right now to say that the Hanover main road, which leads to one of the country’s main tourism areas, is in such a state,” said Anderson-Gayle, who said the HCC has been in constant dialogue with the NWA, which has promised to patch some of the roadways.
When contacted, Janell Ricketts, the NWA community relations officer for western Jamaica, told The Gleaner that the agency has a patching programme which is to come on stream soon.
“We are preparing an islandwide patching programme now but, for the parish of Hanover, it will definitely target that particular stretch [along the coast],” Richards said. “I am not sure how soon this programme will start, but we are looking to have it start as soon as possible.”