Partial Paving Fails to Resolve Issues on Harbour View Road, Haulers Express Concern (Photo)

Harbour View, St Michael, continues to be a bumpy ride and big bother for haulers despite paving in the area six months ago.

The one-way road is used by haulers and freighters as they travel to Shed 4 of the Bridgetown Port.

In January, they expressed dissatisfaction with the state of the road, which was dotted with deep potholes, large enough to give even

the heavy-duty trucks passing over them trouble.

Back then, a truck owner said the road was so rough that driving on it had triggered an air bag in one of her trucks, which was difficult to get replaced, while another hauler said the road caused damage to their vehicles to the point where they failed inspection at the (MTWW).

Other workers described the potholes as “craters” and “wells”.

The worst area was near BICO Limited, where truck drivers attempt to shun the holes.

In June, a team from C. O. Williams Construction paved the road. At the time general manager Neil Weeks said it was a simple fix with the work taking place in only two days.

“There were some big holes but it was not a problem, just mill and pave. It’s been done in roller compacted concrete so it will last for decades – that’s the C.O. Williams guarantee,”he said then.

However, the road was only partially paved. Half of the stretch past BICO leading to Shed 4 is smooth and clear, while the other half is pockmarked with potholes. In front of BICO, the road has not been paved at all, though the holes were patched last week.

This has puzzled those using the road.

“They need to fix the whole road and put it all in concrete too because ‘barber green’ [asphalt] don’t do nothing when it comes to the

weight that drives cross there,” said one hauler.

Another freighter said it might only be a matter of time before another fix was needed.

“These vehicles are heavy. You can’t just do half a road because in ‘two-twos’ all these heavy vehicles will mash up that one side because nobody driving on the rough side. It want doing properly,” she said.

Weekes said C. O. Williams Construction simply followed instructions.

“We did what we were told to do by Government. I don’t know if the problem revolved around budgets but we did what we were instructed,” he said.

A check with MTWW did not shed any light on the matter. A statement read: “Pothole patching has been completed on 300 feet of road way leading to the Barbados Port Inc. on Harbour Road, St Michael, by a team from the Ministry of Transport, Works and Water Resources.”

When asked why the road was not fully paved, the response was: “No further decisions have been made regarding the road.”

The Weekend Nation also repeatedly attempted to reach chief executive officer of BICO, Edwin Thirlwell, but was unsuccessful.