Dusty roads drive residents crazy

Vehicles travelling along the main road in Port Morant, St Thomas, are being coated white -- not by design, but by the endless marl dust blanketing the area.

The ongoing roadworks under the Southern Coastal Highway Improvement Project, a development welcomed by many, is the source of the dust, which is pushing some residents to their limits.

Heavy-duty trucks rumble past daily, delivering marl to repair the parish's notoriously broken roads, while workmen toil in small groups. Despite the long-overdue progress, residents are fed up with the relentless dust storm that's taken over their lives.

Standing at her fish stall, gutting snapper with practised ease, Dorrett DaCosta paused to hurl water near her set-up, her frustration boiling over.

"Bwoy, the dust a mad mi eno, and all we a beg dem to find little water to wet up the place, it nah happen. We don't know what name wet," she said. "If yuh all go over mi shop and look in there, yuh see sumpn else. Sometimes yuh sit down, and when all a big truck pass, we white like ghost. Everything white and nothing can't stay clean. More time a bare cough mi cough."

DaCosta, a long-time resident, admitted that St Thomas has endured years of neglect and bad roads, driving away motorists and customers alike. Her earnings have taken a hit.

"Mi want the road fix, so what mi a go do? Dem say it name prosperity, so mi just have to work with it. Right now, because the road bad, mi nah really make any sale. Sometimes not even pound a fish nuh sell. But mi hope say when the road fix, mi sales go up," she said with a shrug.

For 20 years, DaCosta's stall has supported her family, sending children and grandchildren to school. But now, she is pleading with the authorities for their intervention.

"A just one ting mi a beg the road people say, is that dem lick down one little place inna di bush deh so, so mi can move mi stall," DaCosta said.

Another resident, shoes dusted and voice weary, echoed her frustrations. He said that while he is breathing a sigh of relief that the broken roads are being repaired, he is disturbed by the dust nuisance.

"More time mi tired just fi walk on the road, and a water boot mi haffi wear instead a mi Clarks, because nice shoes can't wear on road," he said. "Mi have a little bike, and mi haffi park it because a car money it a cost mi to fix it. Mi glad the road a fix, but mi can't manage the dust."

Cooking has also become a challenge, with dust working its way into meals despite the residents' best efforts.

"Every now and again mi will see one truck pass a sprinkle [water], but as the water drop a grung, the sun drink it up. The dust nuh normal man," he lamented.

The roadworks, which span from Harbour View in St Andrew through St Thomas into Portland, are part of the Government's push to transform St Thomas. Officials tout the project as a game changer, promising improved infrastructure and economic opportunities. The segment of the roadway from Harbour View to Morant Bay has already been significantly transformed, making travel a breeze for residents.