Road ease

RELIEF Is coming to the east, says Minister of Transport and Public Works John Boyce. That’s because Government’s roadwork programmes at Sunbury, St Philip, and Bowmanston, St John, will resume in earnest on Monday.That assurance came yesterday from Boyce during the Democratic Labour Party’s weekly lunchtime lecture at the George Street, St Michael, party headquarters. Just three days ago, the DAILY NATION highlighted complaints from St John residents about the Bowmanston Road on which work had been started by Rayside Construction, but had stopped about two months ago. The area subsequently became flooded whenever there was rainfall.Boyce offered his apology to residents.“There will be relief for those people. I want to apologise to them. “The reality of the finances required that we took a little pause and looked at the situation. But we have engineered the new way forward. “These people made representation to me at the ministry and at one of our public hearings. I want to indicate my respect for the mature way in which they have dealt with the situation,” Boyce said.The minister also expressed his delight with the work which had been done to restore the Joe’s River Bridge, St Joseph, which he described as of “a high standard”.He said a former Barbados Labour Party minister had a lot to say about Joe’s River but he had to reveal that when he came to office in 2008 he found “request upon request” to have the bridge replaced and repaired, and those requests were ignored by his predecessor Gline Clarke.Boyce said it was amazing that St Joseph MP Dale Marshall could only remember in April that he had asked Clarke five years ago to do something about the Joe’s River Bridge. The minister indicated that widening and further improvement of the bridge would continue, and March 31 had been set down as the finalising date. But, he added, there could be a revision to that. He implored motorists still to exercise caution in using the bridge.Boyce stated that roadwork at dangerous areas was continuing to make them safe.  (WG)