WOODSVILLE, Hanover — Residents of this quiet rural community are calling for the direct intervention of Prime Minister Andrew Holness to have a bridge in the neighbouring Hillsbrook community, which collapsed last Saturday, to be replaced urgently.

The residents made the call while declaring that they are a peaceful community and will not take disruptive and destructive actions to draw attention to their plight.

The collapse of the more than 100-year-old bridge, which serves the communities of Flower Hill, Woodsville, and Hillsbrook, has inconvenienced residents of those and other areas.

“I am asking for the prime minister’s intervention in this matter. The bridge is badly needed and we would like for him to put it on his priority list,” said 66-year-old Flower Hill resident Roy McKella.

He was supported by a female resident of Woodsville who told the Jamaica Observer: “We want the bridge to be fixed. And, guess what, we don’t even know how to fight. We don’t know how to quarrel. So, we are not going to be like some people… We will march like an army, but we want the bridge to be fixed. We are going to humble ourselves and say please.”

Another resident of Woodsville, Arlene McKenzie Pugh, said several people from the community have been left at a disadvantage.

“We have teachers, we have students, the elderly who are sick and need to go to the hospital or to access the clinic and they can’t go. It seems like we are left behind and we are taxpayers also,” said McKenzie Pugh.

She pointed to the challenge now facing students, including those attending the Manning’s School in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland.

According to McKenzie Pugh, instead of taking a half-hour drive to school, the students will have to travel to Hopewell in Hanover and take another public transport to Montego Bay, St James, then another to Savanna-la-Mar.

McKenzie Pugh charged that the alternative route by which the students could travel is in deplorable condition.

That echoed a claim made by president of the Woodsville Community Development Committee Shasha-Gay Fraser, who — shortly after the bridge collapsed on Saturday — told the Observer that the alternative route, Cascade to Hillsbrook, is in a deplorable condition with a section on the verge of collapsing.

“Not even donkeys can walk on that road. It is totally impassible and there is a section of that road that has already been eaten away. There is a section there that probably [only] small vehicles can pass because half of the gully bank has [been] eaten away into the river,” said Fraser.

“There needs to be some attention and that is a ridiculous road, too. I would not advise anybody to drive on that road at night. It is dangerous. It is a lonely road,” added Fraser.

In the meantime, a Toyota Coaster bus driver, Michael Daye, told the Observer that he will now have to leave his vehicle in an adjoining district, walk through a river, and then walk the remaining 2½ miles to his house.

“I don’t even want to think about it, brother, because when I come to Flower Hill I have to leave my bus and walk come home,” stated Daye.

He pointed to the popular tourist attraction, Mayfield Falls, which is also impacted by the collapsed bridge.

According to Daye, guests will now have to use a longer route into Westmoreland to access the attraction.

The bridge, which falls under the purview of the Hanover Municipal Corporation, links a municipal corporation road to a National Works Agency (NWA) road.

Efforts to reach Councillor Devon Brown (Jamaica Labour Party, Hopewell Division), who represents the area, and Mayor of Lucea Sheridan Samuels were unsuccessful over the weekend.

But sources told the Observer that the corporation does not have the money to repair the bridge and will have to seek assistance from the Ministry of Local Government.

Last April, the Observer reported that the NWA had recommended that the road be closed. The Hanover Municipal Corporation took action to have this done but its effort was opposed by residents, who said that the bridge was the only way out of the community.

In the meantime, Member of Parliament for Hanover Eastern Dave Brown said he will try and see how best he can have the matter addressed.

Brown also admitted that the alternative route is in bad condition.

“We expect that the Government will have to step in, whether at the central or local level, to ensure that the people are not marooned,” stated Brown as he underscored that the replacement of the bridge will “not be a quick-fix thing”.