MONTEGO BAY, St James — The Government has unveiled plans to replace the century-old Riley River Bridge (also called Lucea West Bridge), which has been identified as a major contributor to frequent flooding in the coastal town of Lucea during heavy rainfall. The cost of the project, currently in its early stages, is yet to be determined.

“We’re going to build a bridge. A big part of the issue with that bridge is that it’s a bottleneck. It’s a bottleneck because there’s a lot of silting, because of the depth — the width between the river and the bottom of the bridge, and also because of the height of the river. Whenever the debris comes, it blocks the path, so water cannot go through,” explained minister without portfolio with responsibility for works Robert Nesta Morgan.

He was responding to queries from the Jamaica Observer during a water and road projects stakeholder engagement meeting held at Pier 1 in Montego Bay, St James, on Tuesday afternoon.

“That’s part of the discussions that we’re having with the bridge persons, to see how we can create a situation where the water flows freely under the bridge, so even if there is debris coming down, it will not block the bridge so that the place gets flooded,” he said.

According to Morgan, the replacement will be installed under a three-year bridge initiative scheduled to begin next year.

“We’re about to sign the contract. It will be a three-year programme. Within that period, hopefully early, we can fix the Riley Bridge,” he revealed.

Bamboo clogs the entrance to the century-old Riley River Bridge in Lucea, Hanover, on Wednesday. (Photo: Anthony Lewis)

Expanding on the issue, manager, communications and customer service at the National Works Agency (NWA) Stephen Shaw detailed the source of the river debris.

“Part of the challenge with the Riley River is that you have farmers who do their operations upstream, and they chop the bamboo, and they use the river to float them. But some of them [bamboo] they do not take out, and they find their way down to the bridge, which is an old arch bridge,” stated Shaw

He noted that, unlike the current structure which relies on supporting piers in the riverbed, the proposed design will feature a clear-span architecture.

“The new bridge that is going to be built there won’t have that kind of construction. Whatever comes down will be able to flow straight out into the sea. It’s a different kind of construction that is going to be happening there,” stated Shaw.

Persistent flooding at the site regularly halts traffic entering and leaving Lucea, stranding commuters and tourists travelling along the primary corridor between Montego Bay and Negril for hours.

Following back-to-back flood events in 2022, the then minister of state in the Office of the Prime Minister Homer Davis toured the flood-prone town, noting that the Government was pursuing short-, medium-, and long-term solutions. At the time, Davis highlighted that the long-term objective for Lucea was the construction of a bypass.