Residents lament deplorable state of Key Drive, Enterprise

“Terrible!” Dawn Hopkinson-Jacobs exclaimed when asked to describe Key Drive road in Enterprise Gardens, East Coast Demerara.

The woman who has been living in the street for the past six years, is frustrated with its deplorable state. According to Hopkinson-Jacobs, some holes had been patched up in 2010 but, since then, the road has deteriorated to the point where alternate routes have to be used.

A few weeks ago, she said, a new road was built for the neighbouring street in Non Pareil. However, no work whatsoever was done to the Key Drive road.

A section of the damaged Key Drive road
A section of the damaged Key Drive road

The drive through the street was slow and cautious as Stabroek News visited the area on Friday. A teacher at a playschool in the area, who asked not to be named, explained that she would often use another route on her way to work. Some taxis, she added, had refused to travel along the Key Drive road due to its condition.

She revealed that some taxis would charge an extra $100 for the arduous task of travelling into the street.

According to the caregiver, the residents suffered the most on rainy days. Then, she said, the street resembled a recreation area with the large potholes becoming pools. She said she had almost had a mishap once when she misjudged the depth of a hole in the road.

Venting her frustrations with the present circumstances to this publication, Hopkinson-Jacobs said: “I pay my taxes and I need to get a proper access road.”

A regular traveller through the street, Imrit Lall explained that “the holes big, big” for as long as he could remember. He added that though persons in the area had made attempts to do some small repairs to alleviate their burden, the road was damaged again soon afterwards.

On Thursday, Hopkinson-Jacobs said, large machines had been in the area working on a section of the road. However, yesterday revealed that only about 15 feet of road had been worked on, and improperly so. She is unsure of where the machines came from.