Silver Sands residents are demanding long-promised road resurfacing, saying years of patchwork repairs have left roads across the district in deplorable condition.
When Barbados TODAY visited, some motorists were driving on the wrong side of the road to avoid potholes, while others slowed considerably as they navigated rough sections to avoid potentially damaging their vehicles.
Residents said some roads have not been resurfaced in more than 30 years and complained that patchwork repairs often wash away during heavy rainfall, leaving the roads in an even worse condition.
One resident said he recently saw workers digging up parts of the road and then filling them with stones, which he thinks does not help.
“They just dig up; I don’t know what they digging up for. They just digging up, throw in back the marl, then further down digging up looking for something and going down all the time so. I don’t know what they digging for. I don’t know if they checking the mains.”
He said the Government had promised that roads would be resurfaced from Oistins to Silver Sands.
“I know this is the plan, to get resurfaced; there’s a plan to come right up from Oistins and come up,” the male resident said of Hopewell Road. “Before it had a little hump; now you dropping in it cause they just digging out and throw the thing one side there so and left a hole.”
Another female resident said it has been more than 30 years since some roads in the area were resurfaced.
“There are other important roads that have never been touched; now who’s in charge of these operations cause it’s not making sense.”
She said the resurfacing is not being done properly, as gaps and holes are left behind before the work is finished.
Carol Trotman, another Silver Sands resident, described the road conditions as terrible and said the problems require more than patchwork repairs.
“The roads are so, so bad and they keep patching, you know you put on a plaster and when the plaster start to roll off, you gotta put on a fresh one, but it need resurfacing.”
She explained why she believes pothole repairs don’t last.
“You know this is rainy season now, then when the road keeps beating down the hole, then the hole gets worse- because when the plaster pulls out, it pulls out a whole set of everything, and then it gets deeper.”
Trotman said driving at night is especially dangerous because drivers cannot see how deep the potholes are.
“At night, it rains, and it’s full of water, and you drop in; what’s gonna happen now?”
The resident said she is tired of hearing promises that are not kept.
“They need to do their work and stop promising; a promise is a comfort to a fool… It’s not only about you; it’s about us cause us is who put you here in the first place, and you can’t do things just to suit yourself. I think you need to work for the people.”
Trotman said the resurfacing work should cover the entire Silver Sands area, from Ealing Park to the Eggabout and down to Sayers Court.
“When they do fix it, they don’t do it properly; then water works have to come and dig, then natural gas has to come and dig, and they always leave holes and cuts in the road.”
Asked about the Pearly app launched earlier this year, which residents have been encouraged to use to report potholes and other issues across the island, Trotman said she preferred to speak directly with officials rather than use an app.
“I prefer talk because those things don’t actually let you speak what’s on your mind.”
She also referenced a popular radio call-in show.
“What the sense I have issues but when I start to say the truth they gone cut me off, I don’t need that nonsense. I prefer to talk to you one on one and say what I have to say.”
Attempts to contact the area’s Member of Parliament and the Minister of Transport and Works were not successful.
(LG)
The post Residents: Enough patching; resurface the roads appeared first on Barbados Today.
