HOPETON, St James — ‘Treacherous’ is how Hopeton resident Marsha Thomas describes the drive from Montego Bay to her community in south St James.

For years she has used a route referred to as Charlie Mount, a steep winding stretch of road with fear-inducing gullies on one side and protruding boulders on the other.

Now that last October’s Hurricane Melissa has left a gaping chasm in Spring Mount, Charlie Mount has become the main route for most drivers who need to make the trip between Montego Bay into St Elizabeth and beyond. The increased traffic has put pressure on roads already badly in need of repair, and drivers who have not had years of practice mastering the route are a danger to themselves and other road users.

“Everything coming here so, coming up on the road. You see how narrow it is; and it’s breaking away so we soon don’t have any,” Thomas told the Jamaica Observer on Monday.

She was among a group of placard-waving residents who gathered from shortly after 5:00 am, and who used felled trees, boulders and at least in one case a concrete light post, to restrict access.

“We need the road – and remember that the road break away down there so,” Thomas said.

She was referencing the breakaway at Spring Mount which has been reduced to just enough space for single-lane foot traffic. The authorities have repeatedly appealed to residents to refrain from walking the dangerous path, to no avail.

They have also suggested an alternate route for drivers, one that does not include the treacherous Charlie Mount and will not put pressure on roads leading to Thomas’ neighbourhood.

However that route, via Anchovy, is much longer and therefore more costly in terms of time and gas. So for now, as drivers battle for the narrow strip of road available on Charlie Mount, tempers flare and the journey takes much longer than usual. Sometimes traffic is brought to a standstill as colourful language is exchanged along with pointed questions about driving skills.

Thomas said there have been three instances where, while on her way to work, she has seen a bus that has fallen into the gully that runs along some sections of the now heavily used road. She said there have been no fatalities so far but one man was stranded there for an entire night.

“One morning we go down there and a man a bawl fi help, say him there from the night before. A just because nobody no dead yet,” Thomas revealed.

She chided elected officials for what she sees as their failure to repair the road which is now steadily becoming worse with the increased traffic. All the patching done recently, she said, has been done by residents.

Also joining Monday’s protest was Monica Willoughby, who said she has lived all her life in the St James community. She said they have always been plagued by bad roads but the route has become especially horrendous since Hurricane Melissa. Willoughby was at home when she saw other residents gathering for the protest and felt the need to join.

“I support it, 100 per cent. My son is a taxi operatorwho work on the road and is him help me. Every week he has to be buying parts for the bus because of the bad road,” said the elderly woman.

With the route impassable, many students and staff were unable to get to schools in the area. But unrepentant protestors insisted they had to take action to get their message across.

However, Councillor Uvel Graham (Jamaica Labour Party, Spring Mount Division) said residents were too hasty in their decision to block the road.

“This Monday morning we planned to start because the contractor going to come in with marl. We are going to marl the Camrose leg of road so we can divert the traffic on that road while we are fixing this road. All of that was in place already,” he stated after arriving in the community.

He explained that the weather delayed plans to start the work earlier this month.

“I have communicated to the residents, even some of the bus drivers, that I would have started the first week in April. However, we had some unexpected rainfall and I tell them that I am not going to asphalt the road in the rain — because resources are scarce these days — so right after the weather changes I’ll start,” he insisted.

However, Graham commiserated with residents who have to endure such challenging conditions on a daily basis.

“We are going to try and patch out all the potholes all the way through. I have an allocation at the [St James] Municipal Corporation that I am going to spend on it,” Graham assured of the parochial road.

He also shared that, with respect to the Spring Mount breakaway, action would soon be taken. That road is the responsibility of the National Works Agency (NWA).

“They have not given us a starting date for the project but all the soil testing and the scientific part of it is already done. They’ve looked at how much it’s going to cost, what they are going to do; but no set date has been given yet when they are going to start. But we’re going to fix back the road right there,” he assured.

When contacted Monday Janel Ricketts, NWA communications manager for the western region, told the
Observer that the Spring Mount repairs are at the design stage.

Residents protesting, Monday, to call attention to the bad conditions and overuse of Charlie Mount road in south St James .

Councillor Uvel Graham says work was scheduled to start on the road Monday. 

This bus driver is reduced to riding a motorcycle after the roads were blocked Monday in sections of south St James.