The Highway Maintenance Programme is just one of several ongoing initiatives by the Ministry of Transport and Works (MTW) to improve road infrastructure across Barbados. During a recent visit to an active worksite, Acting Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Works, Santia Bradshaw said that several of the island’s highways, including sections of the ABC Highway, had not received this level of maintenance within the last 20 years.
The Highway Maintenance Programme is being carried out on sections of the ABC Highway and other high-traffic roads to protect the subbase, improve the surface, and extend the longevity of these roads. Under the preventative maintenance strategy, remedial work includes milling, deep milling as required, and paving. The programme kicked off in late February from the Errol Barrow Roundabout, Graeme Hall to Top Rock in Christ Church; this stretch is now done. Sections of the ABC Highway from JTC Ramsay Circle (Bussa Roundabout) to BET Hill, and from the Edwy Talma Roundabout to the Deighton Griffith Secondary School were recently completed. Work has since started on the Wildey Triangle and is set to begin tonight, Thursday, March 27, 2025, from the D’Arcy Scott Roundabout to the Welches Roundabout in St. Michael.
Minister Bradshaw explained, “Many of them [the highways] are over 20 years old, particularly across the ABC Highway, and we would have started to do the upgrades to these roads in terms of maintenance under the IDB (Inter-American Development Bank) Global Roads Programme a few years ago. This project is a continuation of that because we recognize that we cannot continue to keep fixing potholes along the highways. These are high-traffic roads. A lot of Barbadians and visitors use these roads to traverse key areas in terms of our economy, and it provides a better flow of traffic for emergency vehicles, commuters, and generally for children getting home. It is important for us to make sure that these key arteries are well preserved and maintained to avoid the constant cost of pothole patching and the damage that is caused to a number of vehicles, which then results in us [MTW] having to pay compensation to a number of drivers as a result of damage to the vehicle.”
Between 2022 and 2023, nine major roads including Carmichael Road, the ABC Highway from Clyde Walcott roundabout to Norman Niles roundabout, and a section of the Ermy Bourne Highway, were rehabilitated under the IDB-funded Road Rehabilitation and Improving Connectivity of Road Infrastructure Project.
Three contractors, B&R Infrastructure Ltd, C.O. Williams Construction Ltd, and Infra Construction Inc. are working for MTW on the current Highway Maintenance Programme. Work is being done exclusively at night from approximately 8:30 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. The MTW road marking crew is also working in conjunction with contractors to paint road markings and install reflectors (cat eyes) on the newly paved roads.
“The Highway Maintenance Programme is part of a sweeping number of things that the ministry is working on presently to be able to bring the necessary relief across the country in as many areas as possible through various programmes… I know that there is a lot of disruption on the roads. We’re working at night as much as we can to be able to avoid the level of disruption that you ordinarily see during the day, and the contractors have accommodated us in that way. But if we’re going to get the improvements to the road infrastructure, some of these inconveniences are going to become quite necessary, and I hope that the improvement of this will meet the satisfaction of the general public. But overall, this is a simple, straightforward maintenance programme. There is no major drainage or major infrastructure changes being made to the actual road, but this is necessary for us to do to maintain a lot of infrastructure across the island,” Minister Bradshaw said.
Under this phase of the Highway Maintenance Programme, the following roads will be done: the Airport Access Road (Tom Adams Roundabout to the mini roundabout in front of the Grantley Adams International Airport); D’Arcy Scott Roundabout to Welches Roundabout; and Wildey Triangle. Roads that were currently finished are Errol Barrow Roundabout, Graeme Hall to Top Rock; ABC Highway from Edwy Talma Roundabout to Deighton Griffith Secondary School; and ABC Highway from the JTC Ramsay Circle through the SJPI roundabout to BET Hill. (SP/MTW)