Road construction will restart on Highway 2 from Bridgefield to Rugby Plantation, St. Thomas, in approximately one week based on weather conditions.
The Ministry of Transport and Works (MTW) temporarily stopped work on that stretch as it focused on widening Hangman Hill, the bypass road used as a detour during the Bridgefield to Rugby roadworks. Hangman Hill is also a diversion route to facilitate construction from Content to Shop Hill in the same parish.
Project Management Consultant for MTW from Stonebridge Construction Inc., Craig Archer explained that large vehicles such as Transport Board buses had encountered challenges along the detour route, and the ministry was therefore working to improve safety.
“The work [includes] cutting back of small sections of rock [and] crops over the last two to three days; it finished yesterday. A few soft spots in the road will be repaired on Monday and Tuesday next week, with repaving done on Wednesday so that Infra Construction Inc. can resume work on the Bridgefield to Rugby Plantation section of the road on Thursday of next week,” he said.
The Project Management Consultant further elaborated, “We are cutting back any rock that is within one meter of the road. The asphalt surface is being cut away, removed, and then the edges of the road are just being hardened so that larger vehicles can safely maneuver and get closer to the edge of the road without the edges of the road breaking away. This is also important because the road is quite winding with lots of corners and bends, so longer vehicles, for example, the Transport Board buses, which are 30 feet long and 10 and a half feet wide, could not safely maneuver around all of the bends and corners in the Hangman Hill Road.” He added that it is anticipated that all vehicles should be able to safely traverse Hangman Hill now that widening was done and other minor improvements are underway.
In addition to the work on Hangman Hill, Mr. Archer provided an update on Highway D, which is undergoing a complete reconstruction from Content to Shop Hill. Explaining it is being done in three phases, he noted that C.O. Williams Construction was working in the first section between Fortress Hill and Jukes Hill.
“Quite a bit of additional work needed to be undertaken because in certain sections no rock was discovered within six to eight feet beneath the surface. So it was a much deeper excavation than originally planned or intended, but now the marl layer has been installed, laid, rolled, and compacted between those two road junctions. We are just waiting on Barbados Light and Power Company Ltd. to relocate a few poles in the area. Wells are being drilled as we speak, on both sides of the road to take water runoff from the road. So works are progressing smoothly. Obviously, last week has been difficult because of the weather, the heavy rain prevented any work on Monday and Tuesday of this week, and then marl could not be laid in those areas because the stock pile material was completely saturated, but work is progressing.” MTW thanks residents, businesses and road users for their continued patience and cooperation.