FALMOUTH, Trelawny – The neglect of the 14-mile pothole-riddled corridor stretching from Martha Brae to Spring Vale in Trelawny by successive governments has created a new breed of hustlers who solicit cash from tax-paying motorists for temporarily patching up the road surface using concrete, marl and even dirt.

As far back as 2011, angry residents on a number of occasions have been mounting roadblocks along the stretch of road, calling for the authorities to repair the corridor.

But while minor patching have taken place over the time, the thoroughfare remains in a deplorable state, triggering the need for motorists to frequently dig deep into their pockets to replace defective front-end parts.

The work of the hustlers, who sometimes block a section of the road, reducing it to single lane traffic, is welcomed by some motorists, while others view them as being a nuisance.

“Some say good and some say bad, but I continue to repair the roads whenever possible because I love doing it,” one of the road surface repairman, Aaron Rose, told the Jamaica Observer West.

“I am not into harassing the drivers, I am just providing a service.”

Shortly after, a dread-locked driver of a high-end vehicle, who stopped to tip the workman, gave him the thumbs up.

“Take this you deserve it. You make a difference,” the driver was overheard commending Rose.

Rose, who is of a Granville address in the parish, explained that he is a weed whacker operator who patches the road whenever he is out of a job.

He admits that his repair job is far from lasting as rain and motor vehicles usually force out the materials he use to fill the potholes.

Apart from Rose, men are also frequently seen busy patching sections of the Bounty Hall roadway and the stretch between Wakefield and Dumfries, in the neighbouring St James parish, with dirt and other materials.

But come next month Rose and his colleagues may be left to seek alternative sources of income as, according to Member of Parliament for Trelawny Northern Victor Wright, as a temporary measure, the National Works Agency (NWA) should commence a patching exercise along the affected corridor.

He explained that combined with funding from the NWA, he has allocated $3.5 million from the $5-million Christmas programme allocation, to undertake the repairs.

“I am in dialogue with the parish manager and the regional director and also the CEO. What they have told me is that they have a patching programme going and as a temporary measure, of the $5 million that I got from the prime minister for Christmas programme I have put $3.5 million. Plus, the NWA has some money that they will be putting on the road, come January,” Wright told the Observer West.

The first-term MP lamented that his lobbies to Government to repair the road have been falling on deaf ears.

“I tabled questions in Parliament to no avail. The NWA have not told me anything about the $800 million…that’s the estimate they presented to me that would take to properly repair that road. That can only be awarded by Cabinet, so I am awaiting a decision on that,” Wright said.

But speaking to the Observer West, one motorist blamed Wright’s People’s National Party for not repairing the thoroughfare during their nearly two decades in power.

In October last year, Prime Minister Andrew Holness indicated that, as a complement to the renovation of some major thoroughfares across the island, the Government will shortly be focusing on networks of roads in rural communities.

He was responding to pleas from Wright for assistance to repair a number of pothole-riddled roads in his constituency.

Wright, who spoke ahead of the prime minister at the ceremony to hand over keys for 58 detached two-bedroom units constructed by the National Housing Trust in Castlewood, Trelawny, argued that the new homeowners will soon have to contend with the deplorable state of the roads in Trelawny Northern.