Posted on the Jamaica National Heritage Trust (JNHT) website are some interesting bits of information about Flat Bridge.

According to the JNHT, while it cannot be positively ascertained when this St Catherine landmark was built, it was definitely constructed after 1724.

Mr Edward Long, the JNHT tells us, describes the bridge — which spans the Rio Cobre — in his History of Jamaica printed in 1774.

“This bridge is flat and composed of planks on frame of timberwork which rests upon two piers and two buttresses projecting from the banks, constructed with piles and braces interlaced with masonry,” the website states.

“When this bridge was being constructed, the 16 plantations in the Bog Walk area were obliged to send one slave in every 50 to work on the River Road, sometimes called Sixteen Mile Walk. Gravel, marl, lime, sand, and stone had to be dug. Slaves often lost their lives as they performed dangerous tasks in the Gorge. Contracts for timber and for masons to work on the bridge were authorised at vestry meetings,” the story continues.

We are also told that, between 1881 and 1915, the floor of the bridge was washed away and later re-floored with iron girders and buckle plates taken from the original flooring of the May Pen bridge.

“Today, the bridge of three spans is supported by two piers and two abutments. In the 1930s it had metal handrails and later wooden ones, but these were devoured by the river at different times. Semi-circular spheres are now the only protection on the bridge itself,” the JNHT website adds.

The historical information ends with the statement that the Flat Bridge is one of Jamaica’s oldest bridges.

Our focus on this remarkable engineering landmark has its genesis in a suggestion we have raised in the space before — that is, to make the bridge a tourist attraction after the completion of the north/south link of Highway 2000.

This week, we reported the builders of the highway, China Harbour Engineering Company, as saying that the link bypassing the Bog Walk Gorge will be ready by January 2016.

As such, motorists will no longer need to use the Gorge where too many lives have been lost whenever there is heavy rain.

We don’t expect that use of the Gorge will end completely after the highway is opened, as there are still many motorists who prefer to travel without paying a toll.

However, the fact that the highway will significantly cut travel time between Kingston and Ocho Rios to 45 minutes suggests that use of the new road will become attractive.

That, of course, will reduce the opportunity for commerce in communities, such as Kent Village, along the old route.

However, those communities can be given a chance to earn from the tourism industry if Flat Bridge is formally included in tours for visitors coming into Spanish Town and Kingston from the north coast.

What that will require, though, is customer relations training and sustained public education of the residents in those communities, as well as effective management of the tours.

Sure, the history associated with the bridge is not the most awe-inspiring. However, there are other edifices across the world with much less historical qualification that are used to earn foreign exchange.