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A RECENT Government audit of the island's major roads has revealed that more than half of the network infrastructure is in very poor state and is actually deemed irreparable
According to the Jamaica Road Sector Policy and Road Master Plan accessed by The Sunday Gleaner, approximately 11,000 km of roads needs reconstructing and more than $70 billion is needed to do the job. The master plan was developed with the help of the European Commission.
Many roads are not maintainable or fit for use, the document says, due to inadequate maintenance, especially of drains and bridges. Impact from heavy rains and overloaded commercial vehicles has also added to the deterioration of the roads over the last 10 years, the documented states.
The master plan indicates that there are no funds set aside for periodic maintenance and this will result in an "early failure of the remaining roads if routine maintenance is not carried out".
Routine maintenance includes drain cleaning, cutting back of vegetation and pothole and crack patching, while periodic main-tenance involves repairs to drainage systems and other systems that will prolong the life of the road. If both are not carried out, then over time, roads become unmaintainable, the report states.
no consistent funding
"Currently, there is no consistent funding allocated for reconstruction of the roads that are now deemed unmaintainable," the document says, "which will result in them degrading further to a point that much of the current 11,000 km will likely become undriveable and access to communities will be lost."
Funds for road work are currently derived from vehicle licensing fees, which yield only $1.2 billion per annum, which is one-tenth of what is needed yearly to fund road reconstruction.
Due to the lack of funding, the crafters of the master plan say over the years, the authorities have replaced regular maintenance with "the patching of failed areas that have previously been patched.
"The approach is severely challenged during the rainy season that is experienced every year and is clearly inadequate to address the extensive problems," the report reveals.
It is an assessment with which prominent civil engineer, Dr Wayne Reid, agrees.
Reid, who is the former head of the National Road Operating and Construction Company, argues that up to 90 per cent of roads across the island do not meet even basic engineering standards. He says many were built decades ago and have been barely improved since the time they were built.
Using the Mount Rosser main road near Ewarton in St Catherine as an example, Reid says many roads started out as tracks to accommodate one vehicle and were merely widened as vehicular traffic usage grew.
poorly tested
"In none of those instances was drainage taken into consideration and the basic engineering practices which drive the standards were certainly not used," he comments.
With consistently growing development, especially on hillsides, and with the advent of mining, run-off during heavy rains has become greater than in the past, and most drains do not have the capacity to carry away this heavy run-off, Reid explains.
He tells The Sunday Gleaner that the material being used to build many roadways is poorly tested and engineered, and, is, therefore, incapable of supporting heavy loads. He explains that the marly limestone which is used widely in road construction, for example, is not properly tested before it is used. The material is often used instead of gravel and stone to grade the road. Reid says while it can be used successfully, it has a wide gradient.
"If it is not tested properly, you can get the marly limestone, which, as you put a little water on it, it becomes like putty ... And when you put that on the road and water gets in it, that is what it becomes, and when the wheel gets it, it squishes out and you get the formation of potholes. It is not any rocket science what is happening to our roads," he tells The Sunday Gleaner.
Similarly, many of the island's 700 bridges are poorly maintained. Though many are frequently inspected, it appears many things are assumed by state engineers instead of tested.
"There is a bridge-maintenance programme set up and there are frequent bridge reports on an annual basis ... . So it should be unlikely where you get into a situation where you get a catasptrohic failure," Reid explains.
foundation failure
"Take the (recent collapse of the) Harbour View bridge, for example, which was a foundation failure. Perhaps inspection did not take into consideration the foundation, and it should not have been difficult for the NWA to check," he argues.
The bridge was washed away by the rushing waters of the Hope River, which was swollen by heavy rains associated with Tropical Storm Gustav two weeks ago. The National Works Agency confirmed that it was the scouring of the foundation piers that led to the bridge's collapse. The storm left close to $8 billion in road-infrastructural damage.
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/glean...ews/news1.html
According to the Jamaica Road Sector Policy and Road Master Plan accessed by The Sunday Gleaner, approximately 11,000 km of roads needs reconstructing and more than $70 billion is needed to do the job. The master plan was developed with the help of the European Commission.
Many roads are not maintainable or fit for use, the document says, due to inadequate maintenance, especially of drains and bridges. Impact from heavy rains and overloaded commercial vehicles has also added to the deterioration of the roads over the last 10 years, the documented states.
The master plan indicates that there are no funds set aside for periodic maintenance and this will result in an "early failure of the remaining roads if routine maintenance is not carried out".
Routine maintenance includes drain cleaning, cutting back of vegetation and pothole and crack patching, while periodic main-tenance involves repairs to drainage systems and other systems that will prolong the life of the road. If both are not carried out, then over time, roads become unmaintainable, the report states.
no consistent funding
"Currently, there is no consistent funding allocated for reconstruction of the roads that are now deemed unmaintainable," the document says, "which will result in them degrading further to a point that much of the current 11,000 km will likely become undriveable and access to communities will be lost."
Funds for road work are currently derived from vehicle licensing fees, which yield only $1.2 billion per annum, which is one-tenth of what is needed yearly to fund road reconstruction.
Due to the lack of funding, the crafters of the master plan say over the years, the authorities have replaced regular maintenance with "the patching of failed areas that have previously been patched.
"The approach is severely challenged during the rainy season that is experienced every year and is clearly inadequate to address the extensive problems," the report reveals.
It is an assessment with which prominent civil engineer, Dr Wayne Reid, agrees.
Reid, who is the former head of the National Road Operating and Construction Company, argues that up to 90 per cent of roads across the island do not meet even basic engineering standards. He says many were built decades ago and have been barely improved since the time they were built.
Using the Mount Rosser main road near Ewarton in St Catherine as an example, Reid says many roads started out as tracks to accommodate one vehicle and were merely widened as vehicular traffic usage grew.
poorly tested
"In none of those instances was drainage taken into consideration and the basic engineering practices which drive the standards were certainly not used," he comments.
With consistently growing development, especially on hillsides, and with the advent of mining, run-off during heavy rains has become greater than in the past, and most drains do not have the capacity to carry away this heavy run-off, Reid explains.
He tells The Sunday Gleaner that the material being used to build many roadways is poorly tested and engineered, and, is, therefore, incapable of supporting heavy loads. He explains that the marly limestone which is used widely in road construction, for example, is not properly tested before it is used. The material is often used instead of gravel and stone to grade the road. Reid says while it can be used successfully, it has a wide gradient.
"If it is not tested properly, you can get the marly limestone, which, as you put a little water on it, it becomes like putty ... And when you put that on the road and water gets in it, that is what it becomes, and when the wheel gets it, it squishes out and you get the formation of potholes. It is not any rocket science what is happening to our roads," he tells The Sunday Gleaner.
Similarly, many of the island's 700 bridges are poorly maintained. Though many are frequently inspected, it appears many things are assumed by state engineers instead of tested.
"There is a bridge-maintenance programme set up and there are frequent bridge reports on an annual basis ... . So it should be unlikely where you get into a situation where you get a catasptrohic failure," Reid explains.
foundation failure
"Take the (recent collapse of the) Harbour View bridge, for example, which was a foundation failure. Perhaps inspection did not take into consideration the foundation, and it should not have been difficult for the NWA to check," he argues.
The bridge was washed away by the rushing waters of the Hope River, which was swollen by heavy rains associated with Tropical Storm Gustav two weeks ago. The National Works Agency confirmed that it was the scouring of the foundation piers that led to the bridge's collapse. The storm left close to $8 billion in road-infrastructural damage.
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/glean...ews/news1.html
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