ST JAMES, Jamaica — A major breakaway on the Springmount roadway in St James may force engineers to shift the roadway as the authorities continue recovery efforts across the parish following the damage caused by hurricane Melissa.

According to community relations representative for the western region of the National Works Agency (NWA) Janel Ricketts, the agency is evaluating the site to make a determination.

“That’s what we are looking at now, some diversion in that area. It is a massive massive breakaway and so we are currently evaluating the situation to see the best engineering solution for there,” she told the Observer Online.

“But for now the thinking is that we may have to shift the road a little bit based on the extent of what happened there,” she added.

The roadway which connects the north of St James with some southern communities and other parishes was destroyed as the storm ravaged the area leaving a dangerous precipice

Currently there is just a tiny section that residents try to walk and in some cases ride across but major traffic has been diverted to neighbouring roadway through Hampton.

“There is just a little section there that persons have been walking and even some brave people are riding motorcycles along there,” she said.

However, while a diversion is being considered, she made it clear that they are looking at different options for the roadway that has become quite precarious for residents who still travel along its edge.

She also warned that continued rainfall may worsen conditions that residents face in that general area.

“They ought to be travelling with extreme caution and as the rain continues, on Thursday night there was some overnight rain, it would have brought down some more mud on the road created some very slippery road conditions,” she explained.

She said that despite these and other challenges the parish has started to see some level of recovery in the space as the NWA continues it’s work to return the parish to a level of normalcy.

“Things are progressing steadily for example up by Chelsea gully where we had a problem, that has been restored. This is where the river had eaten away the roadway,” she said.

Similar areas have undergone some initial work, but she explained that residents can be rest assured more is yet to come.

“There has been significant scouring to sections of roadways that we are trying to address but it is a work in progress and it will take some time based on the extent of the damage,” she said.

“We have done the earlier parts of the work it’s just that in those areas you still need to come in and do some more work even in terms of reshaping the road and laying asphalt,” she added.

However, despite the scale of the destruction, she explained that with the exception of the Springmount road, all roadways across St James are now open to the public and work is continuing on further rehabilitation.

“Even though roadways would have been opened, you have several sections such as approaching Seven Rivers in that Cambridge area, there would have been significant inundation for several days stretching into weeks. That water has receded but the roadway is heavily scoured and even though the roadways are opened you are going to have in that area and several others where you have significant erosion of the road surface,” she said.

“These are areas that we will have to prioritise now that there is opening of the corridors with the clearing of the land slips have been completed and the inundation that was there that has receded but we still have to contend with the heavy erosion along these road sections,” she pointed out.