Dear Editor,

Jamaica is not merely paying too much for roads; it is paying repeatedly for roads that are not engineered to survive.

Each rainy season exposes the same failures — potholes reappear, surfaces peel away, and drains overflow or simply do not exist. This is not an act of nature alone; it is a failure of engineering, planning, and governance. Rain does not destroy well-built roads — it reveals weak ones.

There was a time when roads built under the old Public Works Department were designed with durability in mind. Proper road base preparation, adequate camber, and functional drainage systems ensured that many roads lasted well over a decade before major rehabilitation was required. Today, millions are spent on resurfacing roads that barely survive a heavy downpour. That is not development; it is repetition at public expense.

The Government’s proposed One Road Authority (ORA) seeks to correct fragmentation in road management by centralising oversight, standardising design, and introducing a national road register. These are commendable goals; however, centralisation without a strong engineering culture risks repeating the very failures it intends to solve — only now at a national scale.

The problem is not simply who manages the roads; it is how they are engineered and maintained. Without drainage-first design, proper sub-base construction, material quality control, and strict contractor accountability, no administrative reform will produce durable roads. A central authority that prioritises procurement over engineering discipline will merely systematise inefficiency.

This matters because every dollar wasted on rebuilding failed roads is a dollar diverted from health care, education, and national development. Poor roads increase vehicle costs, endanger lives, and undermine productivity. The true cost is far greater than asphalt and labour — it is economic and social stagnation.

If the ORA is to succeed, it must be rooted in engineering integrity. Roads must be built for lifespan, not headlines; drainage must precede paving; contractors must be held accountable for failures, and local technical knowledge must be preserved, not erased.

Jamaica does not need one road authority alone; it needs one standard of excellence. Until roads are built to withstand our climate, we will continue to pay not once, but repeatedly, for the same stretch of failure.

Dudley McLean II

dm15094@gmail.com