Sigh of relief as collapsed road is being rehabilitated

"At last" were the words uttered by a resident of Windsor Forest in St Thomas as he watched workmen repair sections of the roadway that had broken away due to heavy rainfall in August 2020 caused by Tropical Storm Laura.

The collapsed road and landslides left residents in several communities stranded and some motorists who live in the affected areas had very little choice but to sleep in their vehicles.

Zephaniah Slater, whose house is located right above the collapsed road, said the roadwork, which started three weeks ago, is long overdue. He has watched in horror as pedestrians and motorcyclists skilfully made their way across the small portion of roadway that was spared from the storm's hammering.

"Is up the top there mi did live and it was hard on everybody. The road was always bad but the storm did make it worse so mi glad to see the road a fix now. It was dangerous, man. The only little problem mi have is for them to build a little wall so the loose dirt can be collected because the landslide tear down the hill and is a boulder really a hold up my house and the tree dem," he said.

Subcontractor for the project and resident Donovan Morris said he breathed a huge sigh of relief after learning that the National Works Agency (NWA) was moving in to rebuild the road.

"This is a joy for people from this community as well as Richmond, Cedar Valley, Trinityville and other parts. Mi remember the way people did fraid to travel this side. The market people dem use to have to come off the truck and walk over the spot where the breakaway was because dem either afraid or the driver never want to carry too much weight," he said.

"Material can drop now so people can start back construction on dem place and the project is just a good one. People from the area a get work from it so we really happy. We were told that the roadwork will continue into other areas in St Thomas that have bad roads so we a gwaan watch but mi happy say dis a happen still. Is like a di best thing NWA could a do fi we," Morris added.

Travelling through sections of Richmond Gap and Albion Mountain proves to be a major challenge for residents but they said they have somewhat grown accustomed to the discomfort. What were once asphalted roads have been transformed into riverbeds with huge potholes, many of which are filled with smelly water.

"It always stay this way, it has always been rough for us but we get use to it. We know say when rain fall hard we a go flood out and the road a go get worse. People have to wake very early if them want to go somewhere on time because the taxis dem have to drive very slow," a farmer said.