Spring Garden, St Lucy, is a far cry from its more well known namesake in St Michael.
Whereas the fairly smooth highway in Brighton is usually jam-packed with traffic and serves as the hot spot for jamming during Kadooment, residents in this small community are just crying out for a proper and paved road.
With no public service vehicles even venturing into the area, which starts at the junction with Chance Hall, the approximately 15 households are tired and fed up with the condition of the only route to home, and they want the Government
to remember them.
“The road is really, really bad,” a young mother told the MIDWEEK NATION from her side door, mere yards away from the potholed-laced and water-filled pathway. “As soon as it starts to rain, the road starts to [break] up.”
The woman, who did not want to be identified, said what made it worse and potentially embarrassing was the frequent presence of tourists in the area.
“The thing about it is that tourists come through here sometimes on their route to River Bay and the Animal Flower Cave. I surprise people does still come through this area with the state of the road.”
She said the treacherous state of the road, compounded by poor lighting and bush at the sides of the road, concerned them even more at night.
With the Ministry of Transport and Works’ (MTW) depot just a short distance away in Chance Hall, she was hoping the authorities would give their plight more urgent attention.
“I would like them to put more street lights in to make it more safe at night. And the bush want clearing as well. This is more like rocky Spring Garden, not smooth Spring Garden,” she quipped.
But Spring Garden was not the only St Lucy community crying out for road repairs.
In Rockfield, for some their unfinished road was more like “minefield”.
Two women, one on her way to a senior citizens’ bus ride, said life was definitely no picnic.
“About nine weeks ago, they come and scrape off the old road, put a lot of rocks (marl) on it and left it. They say they goin’ barber greene it, but we ain’t see nobody come back. Man, it real terrible; we want it fixed,” she said before rushing off.
Last Thursday morning, sections of the road were filled with large pools of water, making some areas difficult to pass by foot.
Her neighbour said it seemed the road was better before – despite the potholes.
“Once you drive down, it is bare rocks; big chunks o’ rocks. It hard on yuh tyres; you got to be driving between zero and ten [kilometres per hour]. It ain’t easy at all. And once the rain fall . . . ,” she said, pointing to an area filled with water.
“I would like the road fixed. Before it was bare potholes, but it worse now because of the size of the rocks that in that marl. At least you could navigate the potholes.”
In recent weeks, the MTW has been sending out notices, one up to last Monday, saying that roadworks in Rockfield by its contractor Brathwaite’s Construction had been on hold.
Roads in adjoining Bishops and Chance Hall were also littered with potholes of varying sizes and depths. (BW)
