No heavy duty trucks allowed! Barrier placed @ foot of ‘Elevator Hill’
The famous road referred to by many as Elevator Hill due to its steepness, which had been in a deplorable condition for years and had seen many accidents occurred as a result, has been repaired to immaculate condition and Government is ensuring it remains that way for as long as possible.
The Public Works Department (PWD) over a week ago installed a barrier to prevent vehicles of a certain height and particularly concrete trucks, the main culprits for damaging the road, from using that route to get to areas such as Guard House/Threadfall and Chalwell Estate.
No concrete trucks allowed
According to the Acting Director of PWD, Jeremy W. Hodge, it was early last year that Government had indicated that it was going to fix the section of the road and put measures in place to prevent concrete trucks from damaging it.
“The Elevator Hill was compromised due to the spillage of concrete,” Mr Hodge said, adding that the elevation is so much that it causes the concrete to spill from the trucks.
“There is no way for us to remove the concrete from the surface unless it is done before the concrete dries, which means we had to hire machinery to excavate the road to not only remove the concrete but the surface beneath the concrete that was spilt, including the asphalt and some of the structure beneath the road.
“It led to us having to upgrade the entire road,” Mr Hodge told Virgin Islands News Online.
He also said the barrier will also act as a safety precaution as the steep road is not safe for drivers of heavy equipment to use the road.
Government is also fixing an area of that same road, further above, that was undermined and deemed unsafe.
Meanwhile, Hon Fraser could not be reached for comment.
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17 Responses to “No heavy duty trucks allowed! Barrier placed @ foot of ‘Elevator Hill’”
you can't buy land anywhere you broke @$#
The BVI has a small road network with few alternative routes. Other locales has different road clarifications, ie, residential, collector, arterial, freeway, highways......etc. The BVI has multiple use roads; cars, trucks, heavy construction equipment.......etc used the same road. Thus, despite the unsafe nature of Elevator Hill, restricting it to certain traffic place constraints on businesses. The fix for Elevator Hill is redesign and reconstruction. Further, the road network in the BVI is poorly and effectively laid out. Elevator Hill is the norm, not the exception. There are too many steep roads, poorly constructed horizontal and vertical curves, poor drainage.........etc.
The companies & drivers should be held accountable for any damages.
on another note, elevator road is seriously in a bad state. half that road further up is undermined and I see there are trying to fix it.
Also, what is a truck to do if it comes down the hill and comes across the barrier. It's not like it can turn around.