Construction will start on the retaining structure commonly referred to as Laynes Bridge, in St. Joseph, on Monday, June 24, under the Scotland District Road Rehabilitation Programme.
Word of this has come from Deputy Chief Technical Officer of Projects in the Ministry of Transport and Works (MTW), Dave Scantlebury, who indicated that work on Laynes Bridge will be carried out by the China National Complete Plant Import and Export Corporation (COMPLANT) Limited through Infra Inc., and contract workers from MTW.
Mr. Scantlebury explained that Laynes Bridge, which is located on Highway 3A between Sugar Hill, St. Joseph and Richmond Road, St. Thomas, is an old, raised retaining structure that contains a small culvert.
“It is over 100 years old and was built with limestone. It crosses a natural water course. The upstream or northern side takes the full force of storm water which flows downstream during heavy rainfall. This side of the retaining structure is therefore deteriorating, and as a result, MTW will be repairing Laynes Bridge using COMPLANT under the Scotland District Road Rehabilitation Programme. A gabion retaining wall will be built to strengthen the existing retaining structure. The COMPLANT team has engaged the services of Infra Inc. to construct the stone base and execute the other roadworks. MTW will contract workers to construct the gabion retaining wall on the upstream side of the watercourse,” the Deputy Chief Technical Officer explained.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Works, Santia Bradshaw, said Highway 3A was scheduled to be done under the second phase of the Scotland District Road Rehabilitation Project (SDRRP). However, the deteriorating condition of the retaining structure at Laynes Bridge required sooner intervention.
“Laynes Bridge was initially not amongst the priority bridges in the SDRRP. It is a raised retaining structure with a small culvert and it would have been repaired during work planned for the rehabilitation of Highway 3A in the second phase of the project. However, the retaining structure was compromised due to heavy rains, in particular last year, and we took the immediate decision to have COMPLANT focus on designs for this area. The upcoming works will focus on preserving the integrity of the retaining structure but work on the actual road along Highway 3A will follow after other ongoing works have been completed,” she said.
Minister Bradshaw added: “Despite that significant progress being made on designs for a number of the roads under the Scotland District project, the soil condition and the topography of the Scotland District coupled with the increased intensity of rainfall due to climate change, has caused us at times to have to reprioritised roads, which were originally scheduled under the second or third phases of the project. So, apart from Laynes Bridge, we also had to focus our attention on improving and getting designs ready for areas like Spa Hill, Mose Bottom, and Melvin Hill, which were not originally on the first phase of the project.”
Road rehabilitation is ongoing under the Scotland District Road Rehabilitation Programme at Animal Flower Cave Road, Jemmotts Road, and Chance Hill in St. Lucy; Reece Road in St. Thomas; Glenburnie in St. John; Vaughns Road No. 2 in St. Joseph, as well as White Hill, Kings Street, and Coggins Hill in St. Andrew.
Laynes Bridge in St. Joseph will be closed from Monday, June 24, for approximately six months, pending weather or unforeseen circumstances, to facilitate construction. Road users will need to detour via Sugar Hill, St. Joseph, and Richmond Road, St. Thomas.