ANCHOVY, St James — Residents and business operators along the Anchovy to Shettlewood and Mackfield main roads spanning southern St James and eastern Hanover are cautiously optimistic about the longevity of road repairs now being done a few weeks ahead of the winter tourist season.

Last Thursday, the National Works Agency said temporary repairs are being done to the corridors pending a major project to restore critical sections of the main roads now in the procurement phase.

On Friday, the Jamaica Observer saw marl being utilised on sections of the thoroughfare at Chester Castle in Hanover. A few kilometres east in Anchovy, St James, residents and business operators there said they are eagerly awaiting the completion of the Long Hill bypass, but are also hoping for a permanent fix to their main road amid ongoing works there.

“When the bypass is done and I am going into Montego Bay I won’t be going down Long Hill. I will be using the bypass 24/7. You can a go down Long Hill and there is a sudden breakaway and you gone a gully and dead. I just want them to finish the work on the bypass. It would be the best thing for everybody, but for now we need a good fix to the main road, it is what we have now to use everyday,” said a welder in Anchovy who gave his name only as Massop.

A police unit creeps through a section of the Shettlewood to Mackfield main road on Friday. Garfield Robinson

The Long Hill and Anchovy to Savanna-La-Mar main road is one of the main corridors connecting the island’s north and south.

“This road is very important. There are people who use this road to get to the airport and even work in Montego Bay coming from as far as Mandeville. They are coasters from Mandeville to Montego Bay,” he added.

He pointed to the daily struggle commuters face with delays.

“Every morning there is traffic from the south-west heading into MoBay because of the road condition. A contractor is doing some scraping on the bad part of the road and I hope that they will properly fix the road. The little scraping makes a big difference with the traffic flow. The bad road goes all the way towards Savanna-La-Mar at Mackfield,” Massop told the Sunday Observer.

A truck unloading marl on the Shettlewood to Mackfield main road in the vicinity of Chester Castle in Hanover on Friday. Photo: Garfield Robinson

“Just recently people blocked the road at Ramble on the Hanover side. The bad roads go through Hanover at Chester Castle, Bethel Town, Montpelier, all of these roads are no good…The little scraping, I hope they will fix the roads properly with quality work,” he added.

He recalled the distress one motorist experienced in Ramble when his vehicle was stuck in a pothole.

“You see right at Burn Ground [Ramble], I remember the road was being fixed one morning with patching and in the afternoon rain came and washed out everything and ever since that has been a recurring problem in Burn Ground. The road patching was poor and rain just washed it out after. Hurricane Melissa came and made it worse,” Massop said.

Category 5 Melissa unleashed extensive damage to roads, buildings, infrastructure and lives on October 28, 2025.

Vendor Tadge Jones at his stall in Anchovy, St James, on Friday. Jones said the traffic sparked by poor road conditions is terrible. Photo: Garfield Robinson

“I saw a car on the Burn Ground road go into a pothole and people had to use another vehicle to pull it out,” he added.

Residents from Mount Carey are also hoping that the road works will last.

“From Montpeiler to Mount Carey is a good road, but the rest of the road is bad, so now that they are doing work on it, please do it properly. When the road work doesn’t last we as taxpayers lose,” said Mount Carey resident Denise.

Anchovy vendor Tadge Jones is also calling for quality work to be done.

The Anchovy main road in southern St James Photo: Garfield Robinson

“We want the work to be done quickly, because the traffic is terrible, but, at the same time, we want it to be done properly,” he said.

Granville Wright, a resident of Shettlewood in Hanover, complained that the bad roads are costly to motorists.

“Is the first time from the storm blow some work is being done. You see the problem is, when they are to put three inches of asphalt they put one and a half and then we the motorist suffer,” he claimed.

“Me nuh stop buy front-end parts and all sorts of rubbers in order to get my car to drive good,” he added.