GREENWOOD, St James — Sick and tired of staff falling ill from the dust that swirled along the surface of the road outside their business place, proprietors of Greenwood Plaza took matters into their own hands Sunday and fixed a section of road on the border of St James and Trelawny.

“The workers have been getting sick because of the dust, everybody coughing and complaining about the dust. We had to do something because our people were being hospitalised,” the plaza’s Managing Director Madge Neil-Burnett told the Jamaica Observer.

The plaza houses several businesses including a hardware store and supermarket that are popular among Greenwood residents and other clients from across Jamaica.

On Sunday a grader, two tractors, a roller and several trucks carried out what Neil-Burnett called “temporary work”.

“We’re putting some material on the road from out by the main road into the community as far as the material will take us,” she explained.

The dust nuisance, coupled with other issues such as poor drainage, has become unbearable for not just her staff but the wider community. Neil-Burnett is also president of the Greenwood Citizens Association.

“People can’t drive; look at the road and how it stay,” she lamented.

“The last time the rain fell we had to bring people from one point to the other, they were marooned, couldn’t get to come out of their houses,” she added.

While Neil-Burnett hastily added that Member of Parliament for St James East Central Edmund Bartlett had given her an assurance that the road would eventually get some attention under the SPARK programme, she insisted that it needed immediate attention.

“He said that we are on the priority list now to get the road fixed but as to when, he cannot give me a specific date,” she explained.

“There is a plan to do a drain from the foot of the hill to the culvert out by the main road. It was mentioned that it would cost some money, like $14 to $15 million, and that has been a couple months now, so I guess it’s going to come up to more than $20 million right now,” she added.

As Neil-Burnett stood overseeing the work that was being done Sunday, she outlined steps they took to minimise the impact on commuters.

“We cleared a detour road so that the cars could drive around because we had to close off the main road,” she told the Observer.

They had placed crushed stone in some areas a few days before, in preparation for the work done on the weekend. Neil-Burnett declined to say how much it all cost.

“It is going to cost us a pretty penny but this is still a temporary work until when they come,” she said.

For her, it’s worth it as the state of the road had been taking a toll on the business that she has been operating for decades.

“We lost over 35 per cent or 40 per cent of business over the holiday that we would normally make because people not coming in here,” Neil-Burnett divulged.

Her son and fellow business operator, Trevor Burnett Jr, said this is not the first time they have done road repairs.

“We have tried to do work on the road at various points over the years because of what people have to go through. We are the ones that mainly pay for it because we want the area to be better for the people that use it,” he said.

In painting a picture of what it was like before this latest intervention, Burnett Jr said whenever it rained they would use wooden pallets to provide a makeshift sidewalk for pedestrians to use. He said several community members came out on Sunday to help work on the road.

“One man provided an additional tractor that also assisted in the work they have been doing,” he said.

Denese Burns, who says she has lived in Greenwood for 30 years, was among those who helped. She pointed cars towards the detour.

“Over the years you hear the same thing: that Greenwood was not turned over to the parish council so there is nothing the Government can do,” she complained.

She is particularly affected by the inadequate drainage.

“Our home is right around there but sometimes it feels like you need a canoe to get to it,” Burns lamented.

She is grateful to Neil-Burnett and the other proprietors of Greenwood Plaza for leading the effort to fix their road.

“Just because she has a business, we can’t expect her to do this, this is not hers, so I am grateful for what is being done,” said Burns.