BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – MOTORISTS have now to deal with less potholes along the Federation roadways, following the resurfacing of one of Basseterre’s main thoroughfares, Church Street.
Early Friday (Feb. 10) morning, crews fitted with heavy-duty equipment were seen on Church Street excavating the top layer of the road in preparation for repair works.
This publication spoke to Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Public Works and Utilities Lenrick Lake, who explained that resurfacing of the Church Street project is part of the government’s Road Development Programme which began in September 2011.
Blocked from vehicular traffic, Church Street was repaired over the weekend and by Monday (Feb. 13) the newly-surfaced thoroughfare was reopened for use.
The recent pothole phenomenon gave rise to concerns by motorists and pedestrians alike who – one way or another – suffered through the hassle of “pothole dodging”. These potholes, also referred to as decaying asphalt, are the manifestation of wear and tear of the island’s roadways.
Speaking to the progress of the programme, Lake told SKNVibes that some work was been done in the rural areas and is now being done in the central business district, Basseterre.
“We alternated repairing some of the roads in Basseterre and then some in the rural areas. We dealt with the secondary roads first and this year we are dealing with the primary roads, which is the Island Main Road. We have just completed that and now we are back in town to deal with the central business district. That is currently our focus.”
He said sections in the central business district which would be tackled in the near future include Princes Street, Liverpool Row and College Street.
Having completed this leg of the project, Lake disclosed that the road repair crews would return to the rural areas to make repairs on others roads and “we will look at levelling areas that are not fully developed”.
The availability of bitumen – the product used in road resurfacing – is one of the setbacks which the programme experiences, as “it is only available at certain times of the year because it has to be shipped from Venezuela. There is not a constant flow of it,” Lake explained.
Designed to create a more comfortable and safer environment for motorists, the Road Development Programme will continue indefinitely, Lake explained.
