HANOVER, Jamaica — While the National Works Agency (NWA) has started drain-cleaning and patching works on the heavily trafficked Seaview Drive thoroughfare in the coastal town of Lucea — which has resulted in severe daily traffic jams in the capital — stakeholders are calling for a permanent fix.

“What you’re seeing now is some roadwork commenced yesterday [Tuesday night] to fix that area. But it’s a temporary measure, and I look forward to that permanent fix as per the discussion with the National Works Agency and the Minister for Roads [Robert Morgan],” stated Member of Parliament for Hanover Western Heatha Miller Bennett who was elected on a People’s National Party ticket.

She emphasised that while the problematic roadway, which is susceptible to water damage from the sea, has been repaired on numerous occasions over the years, the problem keeps resurfacing and a permanent solution is needed. Apart from minor works, a major repairs were carried out by the NWA in 2023.

Last September, it was revealed that the NWA would make a significant shift from asphalt road surfacing to concrete pavement on the roadway.

At the time, NWA Community Relations Officer for the Western Region Janel Ricketts told the Jamaica Observer that the entity was finalising details and hoped to have the project implemented by the end of the year. However, there has been no further word on the development since.

When contacted Wednesday, NWA Communication Manager Stephen Shaw said he would return the call. However, up to press time, the call was not returned.

Apart from the concrete surface, Destination Assurance Council (DAC) Chairman Richard Wallace pointed to plans by the Government to create a bypass road between Negril and Montego Bay that could provide a long-term solution.

“We understand that these things take time, but while we wait for that permanent fix, we cannot allow our business… to be stifled or cut off while we wait. And so we’re appealing that some remedy be made. That highway is going to take years, most likely, to come into effect, but in the meantime, we still have to survive, we still have to grow, and we still have to prosper here in Negril,” stated Wallace.

He pointed to the impact that the poor road surface — marked by deep potholes and floodwaters that cause traffic jams — is having on the general commuting public in addition to the tourism sector, including hotels, attractions, excursions, and cruise shipping.

“Negril is literally being cut off from our source… which is through the Sangster International Airport and the thousands of hotel rooms in Montego Bay and Falmouth, even as far as Ocho Rios, and from the general local population in Kingston. This is really a bad situation, and we have reached out to the authorities. I wrote a letter to the minister and to the head of the NWA, and we are really appealing that this be remedied,” added Wallace.

The hotelier said he has received reports from other hotels that customers are opting not to come to Negril, hotels located in the Green Island section of Hanover, or areas beyond that point because of the long drive.

“Especially families with young children don’t want to be in a bus for two hours, three hours trying to get to their destination after a long flight from Europe or from North America and then have to endure another… two hours in a bus trying to get to their hotel,” explained Wallace.

The impact is also being felt by emergency services.

“The ambulance services are quarrelling, saying that the poor patients in the vehicle are being bounced up. You can imagine IV fluid with a needle in a person’s hand and they have to go into those deep potholes. It is not good for healthcare services and delivery; it is not good for disaster management issues. You can imagine if we had a hurricane right now on top of this — it’s disaster upon disaster,” Hanover Health Services Parish Manager, Aldwayne Beckford told Observer Online on Wednesday.

He said the situation is also having an impact on people seeking healthcare and on health workers. He noted that traversing the route from Johnson Town to the Noel Holmes Hospital — which would normally take approximately 10 minutes — is now taking up to 45 minutes.

“[Thank God] we have ambulances with sirens that make noise, but even for healthcare practitioners — nurses, doctors, administrators, maintenance workers — it takes them too long to get to the hospital,” stated Beckford, who also complained about a lack of police monitoring.

The area is adjacent to the sea and features a retaining wall. However, with drains and the roadway flooded, leaving pedestrians with nowhere safe to walk, Beckford fears the emergence of new health issues.

“Now we are seeing where water is on the road, so later on we might be faced with vector control issues or even leptospirosis, because we don’t know what is being washed from where to where onto these roads, and pedestrians are walking through it,” argued the concerned parish manager.