The worst road? Even trailers no match for water filled potholes
But his deplorable roads might be in competition with a small piece of road in Free Bottom, which some say could be the worst and most ignored strip of road.
Even before hurricanes Irma and Maria damaged much of the infrastructure in September 2017 the road between Qwomar Trading Ltd., and Crystal's Night Club and Sports Bar was very bad. The road is filled with potholes as deep as two to three feet, filled with muddy water, and broken sidewalks that create a hazard for motorists, pedestrians and even persons on motorcycles.
Trailer stuck in mud & water filled pothole
For the second time in four weeks, a trailer truck was stuck in the mud while trying to back into the new BVI Ports Authority storage area between Qwomar Trading Ltd and the night club.
Over the past few months, many residents have been stuck on the sidewalk in holes while trying to manouvere their vehicles. Pedestrians also had to endure muddy water being splashed on them by passing motorists.
Yesterday, January 31, 2018 around 5:00 P.M., traffic in the area had to be diverted because of a trailer truck that was stuck in a water filled pothole. This caused much distress for motorists in the middle of rush hour as residents where trying to get home from work.
It is unknown when the road will be fixed as the poor road conditions have been that way for almost a year.
Sixth District Representative Hon Alvera Maduro-Caines did not respond to our request for a comment on the road situation.
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23 Responses to “The worst road? Even trailers no match for water filled potholes”
So there are no positive stories around the islands?
Poor road maintenance is equivalent to disinvestment; it sacrifices the initial investment in road construction. The cost of rehabilitating, restoring and reconstructing poorly maintained roads is typically more than the maintenance cost would have been. How long should roads last?
Roads in developed countries typically have a designed life of approx 15-30 years, with timely maintenance and repair. OK. BVI roads may not last 15 years before reconstruction but they surely can be properly designed, constructed and maintained to last more than 4-6 years. Techniques, procedures, practices, processes, programmes …….etc exist to construct properly functioning roads. These factors need to be adopted/adapted to attain better roads. Further, a major contributing cause for premature road failure is poor drainage. Without proper drainage, road construction is a poor investment and not good stewardship of taxpayers $$$$. Further, the trailer issue highlights another contributing cause to premature road failure——-road classification.
The BVI has no limitation on what vehicle or equipment can use what road. All vehicles, ie, tractor trailer, garbage trucks, cars, SUVs, trucks, heavy construction equipment.......etc can use any road. The roads are not designed to safely carry the heaviest loads using them. Consequently, heavy equipment contributes to the accelerates deterioration of roads, resulting in premature failure. For example, studies have concluded that one pass of a heavily loaded garbage trucks equivates to approximately 1000 vehicle passes.
Moreover, proper road construction should be for the use and benefit of both residents and visitors. However, tourism is 1/2 of the economic twin pillars, providing direct, indirect and induce benefits for workers and businesses. As such, road infrastructure is vital for tourism and needs proper investment and management. The deteriorated road conditions in East End and Long Look, Purcell.......etc speaks for itself. There seems to be a competition as to which location has the worst road. Which location has the best roads.