SPRING MOUNT, St James — One year after Hurricane Melissa destroyed the Spring Mount to Maroon Town road, leaving a gaping breakaway that has reduced passage to a narrow footpath, residents are questioning when the situation will be remedied.

“We feel neglected and the last update that we got is what the prime minister [Dr Andrew Holness] made last week, that they test the soil and they can’t do a bridge,” a resident of Spring Mount, who gave her name as Nikita, told the Jamaica Observer during a recent visit to the community.

Nikita, who operates a bar in the area, said that if a bridge cannot be built, the authorities should consider approaches used to address similar situations in the past.

According to Nikita, a neighbouring community had a breakaway that was worse than the one in Spring Mount and that was fixed by the authorities and the same can be done for her community.

Nikita said the main concern for many residents is that the breakaway continues to widen, particularly when it rains, making it increasingly difficult to navigate the remaining footpath.

She said children and, especially, elderly residents are finding it frightening to walk along the area for fear of slipping and falling into the ravine created by flood waters.

“They say that the road is closed off but we are concerned because we don’t have anywhere else to walk and if we should go the next side it’s about a 20-, 25-minute walk to get a drive to go through Hampton,” claimed Nikita.

She told the Observer that the residents are considering taking matters into their own hands, if permitted, as the footpath continues to narrow whenever it rains.

“What we are looking into doing is getting a tractor to cut into the corner because we basically have nowhere to walk and each time rain falls, it tear more and more,” she said.

GRAHAM… it’s been one year now that the people are waiting. Maldon High School is suffering, the teachers can’t go up there because they can’t traverse the hill

According to Nikita, economic activity has slowed in the community since the breakaway emerged following the Category 5 storm.

She said her bar, which would attract customers travelling in either direction, has also suffered a downturn in business.

“Things were really slow after the storm but, as Jamaicans, we get people on foot but it is not like before,” she said.

Another resident said he was concerned about the lack of visible progress, despite a year having passed since the storm.

“Two time mi see some people come look at it, and nothing. Them nuh do anything, them not even say if they go build a bridge or anything,” lamented the man who asked not to be named.

He explained that the situation had forced residents to make lengthy detours, particularly when travelling to Montego Bay by car, while others had to find alternative means of transportation.

“Some have to drive come here, park and then take taxi because of the situation,” he stated.

Meanwhile Councillor Uvel Graham (Jamaica Labour Party, Spring Mount Division) also expressed frustration over the delay in the road repair.

“It’s been one year now that the people are waiting. Maldon High School is suffering, the teachers can’t go up there because they can’t traverse the hill,” said Graham.

“They have to park their cars in Montego Bay and take the bus, some of them getting to school about 11:00 am, way after school start,” added Graham as he supported that claim that businesses in the area are suffering as commercial activity continues to decline.

Graham called for the situation to be addressed, particularly in light of assurances reportedly given by the National Works Agency (NWA) during a visit to the community some weeks ago when resident were told that it was awaiting the result of soil testing.

But during a recent visit to the area Holness made it clear that there is a lot more to be done before a decision is made to address the breakaway.

“The engineers from the NWA have done the necessary analysis of the area, they have done the soil test, they have looked at options including cutting further into the hill or going on top of the hill and the conclusion is that it would be economically prohibitive.

“I mean you can always come up with an engineering solution, the question is what would be the cost and so far, to correct the breakaway, they are looking at cost of about $250 million, in that region,” Holness had stated.

“We don’t know what it is going to actually turn out to be when you start to put up retaining walls and the like but when you look at the economics of it you could repair many more roads for that amount of money,” added Holness.

He said the NWA is now examining an alternative route because of the financial challenges associated with concentrating such a large sum on one location.

The prime minister urged residents to exercise patience and understanding while the authorities worked towards finding an appropriate solution.

“I want the people of Spring Mount to know and all the people of St James who have to travel using that route to know that it is not an abandonment of the area; we are just trying to do it a sustainable way, a way that when we fix those roads or build a new route that it won’t be affected by super-phenomenal weather events such as what we had before,” said Holness.