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Christiana road could be worth it
Published: Wednesday | June 8, 2011 9 Comments
Trevor Samuels, Contributor I am sure that many persons who are giving opinions on the controversial Christiana road project have never tried to walk or drive through that town on any day of the week, especially on a market day. If they had, they would better understand why the project is necessary.
Christiana, with its single main street, has almost reached its peak for development and the town cannot expand further unless room is created for that purpose. It does sound expensive, but since I am not in a position to justify the cost, I hope that it stays within the budgeted amount and the money is honestly spent.
A bypass road for Christiana is not a new concept, as it has been talked about for more than 50 years and could be the last chance for Christiana to grow. When the road from Williamsfield was being rebuilt in the 1970s, the idea was that a bypass road was to be built around the town to take the improved road to Coleyville and beyond. It was said then that it was too expensive, so the idea was shelved and the road ended back through the main street, adding to the chaos of Christiana today.
Christiana, being a desirable place to live, has seen a rapid increase in population over the past 40 or so years, with many returning residents and local people settling in the area.
This road not only serves the people of Manchester, but Christiana is the nearest town to south Trelawny and one of the main routes to the north coast, and vice versa. Many people from those areas travel to school, hospital, to shop and conduct other business in Manchester.
Other past mistakes
Because of cost, we have made several mistakes in the past, ending up with substandard work, as seen on most of our road network. The Mandela Highway and Spanish Town Bypass were criticised for the high cost at that time, and that became an election-campaign issue. From the announcements made then, overpasses should have been built at the March Pen and Windsor Road intersections, but were scrapped from the original design at the change of government. I recall, too, that Prime Minister Hugh Shearer was heavily criticised for that project.
More recently, a few more million dollars would have given Portia Simpson Square an overpass rather than the already outdated roundabout which hardly improves the present traffic flow. Prime Minister P.J. Patterson also took his share of criticism for his north coast and toll highways. Chief Minister Bustamante took his licks on the storm-water drainage system for Kingston, so much so that the government of the day was dubbed the 'Gully Government'.
Another big mistake was made in the 1970s when the south coast road being reconstructed from Alligator Pond to Milk River was abandoned halfway. This road would have relieved Spur Tree of some of the large cane trucks, tankers, shipping trailers and cement trucks. It is a terrifying experience to encounter some of these units on the hill, and a good friend of my family lost her life there some time ago. That south coast road can still be put to use for large units by the widening and straightening of a few curves on the existing road without doing irreparable damage to the sensitive environment of that region.
If Jamaica is to get out of the Third-World mode, it must have leaders and planners with the vision to take it into the next 50 years and not just to look at the present.
Infrastructure must be properly built so that it lasts well into the future. It is better to do fewer projects, select them well and do them well so we wouldn't have to redo them every year, thus giving a chance to move on to the next project.
A quarter-inch of asphalt on a base of marl to construct our roads is not good enough to make us pothole-free by any year whatsoever. (From a lay woman's point of view, this seems to be the existing trend)
Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and tasamuels@cwjamaica.com.
Published: Wednesday | June 8, 2011 9 Comments
Trevor Samuels, Contributor I am sure that many persons who are giving opinions on the controversial Christiana road project have never tried to walk or drive through that town on any day of the week, especially on a market day. If they had, they would better understand why the project is necessary.
Christiana, with its single main street, has almost reached its peak for development and the town cannot expand further unless room is created for that purpose. It does sound expensive, but since I am not in a position to justify the cost, I hope that it stays within the budgeted amount and the money is honestly spent.
A bypass road for Christiana is not a new concept, as it has been talked about for more than 50 years and could be the last chance for Christiana to grow. When the road from Williamsfield was being rebuilt in the 1970s, the idea was that a bypass road was to be built around the town to take the improved road to Coleyville and beyond. It was said then that it was too expensive, so the idea was shelved and the road ended back through the main street, adding to the chaos of Christiana today.
Christiana, being a desirable place to live, has seen a rapid increase in population over the past 40 or so years, with many returning residents and local people settling in the area.
This road not only serves the people of Manchester, but Christiana is the nearest town to south Trelawny and one of the main routes to the north coast, and vice versa. Many people from those areas travel to school, hospital, to shop and conduct other business in Manchester.
Other past mistakes
Because of cost, we have made several mistakes in the past, ending up with substandard work, as seen on most of our road network. The Mandela Highway and Spanish Town Bypass were criticised for the high cost at that time, and that became an election-campaign issue. From the announcements made then, overpasses should have been built at the March Pen and Windsor Road intersections, but were scrapped from the original design at the change of government. I recall, too, that Prime Minister Hugh Shearer was heavily criticised for that project.
More recently, a few more million dollars would have given Portia Simpson Square an overpass rather than the already outdated roundabout which hardly improves the present traffic flow. Prime Minister P.J. Patterson also took his share of criticism for his north coast and toll highways. Chief Minister Bustamante took his licks on the storm-water drainage system for Kingston, so much so that the government of the day was dubbed the 'Gully Government'.
Another big mistake was made in the 1970s when the south coast road being reconstructed from Alligator Pond to Milk River was abandoned halfway. This road would have relieved Spur Tree of some of the large cane trucks, tankers, shipping trailers and cement trucks. It is a terrifying experience to encounter some of these units on the hill, and a good friend of my family lost her life there some time ago. That south coast road can still be put to use for large units by the widening and straightening of a few curves on the existing road without doing irreparable damage to the sensitive environment of that region.
If Jamaica is to get out of the Third-World mode, it must have leaders and planners with the vision to take it into the next 50 years and not just to look at the present.
Infrastructure must be properly built so that it lasts well into the future. It is better to do fewer projects, select them well and do them well so we wouldn't have to redo them every year, thus giving a chance to move on to the next project.
A quarter-inch of asphalt on a base of marl to construct our roads is not good enough to make us pothole-free by any year whatsoever. (From a lay woman's point of view, this seems to be the existing trend)
Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and tasamuels@cwjamaica.com.
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