Dear Editor,
Owing to the ensuing pandemic, my public interest in voicing concerns through the media have been paused. However, I will rejoin the quorum as a concern citizen and “an engineer of development”. The ongoing works on the captioned road is a tremendous alleviation towards the woes of the residents and passersby of the area. This concerned was raised to another Government official a few years back but to no avail as it fell on deaf ears. The (then) narrow road often led to congestion and safety issues especially during the rush hour and on multiple instances I, like many others, would have witnessed several road rages emanating from these issues. More importantly, over the last year or so, the overhead bar that served many years protecting and preserving it was removed, thus creating a heftier flow of heavy-duty vehicles towards the industrial site and other sections of Eccles. This did not only damage the road but further increased the issue of congestion and safety. I would have observed containerized trucks and other heavy duty transporting equipment traversing on multiple occasions along this main access road instead of their usual path. This resulted into gross damage to the shoulders and surface area of the road. A personal analysis was done by myself comparing the road before and after the overhead bar was removed. The existing small potholes developed into burrows or “mini-lakes” to use the term loosely. This resulted in further congestion, damage to vehicles, safety issues for every stakeholder including pedestrians and schoolchildren amongst others. I am not aware of the scope of the work or the specifications, however, I would envisage that provisions for the installation of speed bumps and overhead bar are intact to protect this new “elite” road. I would not need to indicate the reduction in maintenance costs and alleviation of risks along with other critical factors. My observations on the ongoing works displays characteristics of a “domestic” road and not an industrial road, something that I would seriously recommend as an interest to the engineers. Therefore, I would strongly recommend the installation of this overhead bar that would eschew the damages and preserved it for a longer period.
George Phillips,
Retired Public Servant
