OCHO RIOS, St Ann – After spending $40 million to repair a breakaway on a section of the St Ann’s Bay to Lime Hall main road and reopening it to vehicular traffic, the National Works Agency (NWA) has turned its attention to repairing the Ocho Rios to Parry Town main road – parts of which collapsed during torrential rains early last year.

“Ten million dollars will be spent repairing this roadway,” Stephen Shaw, NWA communications manager confirmed on Wednesday, noting that repair works should last for four months.

Acccording to Shaw, repair work on the road had commenced, but no workmen were present when the Observer visited the site on Wednesday. There were, however, several mounds of soil deposited near the roadway in the vicinity of the breakaway.

The St Ann’s Bay to Lime Hall main road was closed for several months after heavy downpours in November 2005 caused sections of the road to break away resulting in a 40-foot drop. The stretch was rendered unsafe by the works agency and a closure notice was put in place.

But motorists and commuters, who grew weary of using a less than par alternate route, made repeated calls for the speedy repair and reopening of the stretch of road as conditions on the substitue route worsened – proving more costly to them. In some instances, taxi operators had raised fares from $50 up to $70 and $100 to counter the costs incurred by taking the longer route and damage to their vehicles by poor road conditions.

Drivers greeted the reopening with much enthusiasm.

“A long time this fi happen,” one taxi operator told the Observer.

Unlike the St Ann’s bay to Lime Hall main road, the Parry Town road remains open. However, cracks have appeared in sections of the road near the breakaway casting fear among residents and motorists that further sections of the roadway may collapse.