THE Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC) yesterday expressed concern over what it says is the “deteriorating state of our roads” and called for a reform of the National Works Agency “ensuring that appropriate technical expertise is in place”.

“Many roads in the Corporate Area alone are now riddled with craters, making driving a nightmare. It is a recurring problem whenever there are heavy rains,” the JCC said in a statement yesterday. “This brings into serious question the quality of workmanship and the specifications related to road construction over the years.”

According to the JCC, drainage, road base and surface are “three features which should be integral to determining the minimum standards for road construction”.

“We would expect the road to be cambered or sloped in such a way that water would be channeled to the side with appropriate culverts and drains to lead the water away from the main roadway,” the JCC said.

Road base, it added, must be fundamental to the design.

“The sub grade conditions and the expected loading from vehicular traffic should determine the thickness. A few layers of marl prior to surfacing is not good enough. The Marcus Garvey Drive, built on former swamp lands, will continue to be a problem until properly engineered. The building of a house cannot proceed without a proper foundation and so it must be with roads,” the JCC stressed.

The chamber further added that appropriate drainage and proper foundation should not be compromised by a thin surface.

“It follows that having put in the appropriate drainage and having laid the proper foundation then it would be defeating the purpose if we chose to economise with too thin a surface,” the JCC said. “The quality of asphalt used and the mix with aggregate must be carefully monitored to ensure conformity with predetermined specifications.”

Yesterday, the chamber also raised questions about the proposed weigh stations and the monitoring of over-loaded trucks.

“Our roads should be designed with known carrying specifications and trucks forced to comply and be fined for non-conformance. Fines should be at a level sufficient to provide the funding for repairing the damage which these trucks have caused,” the JCC said.