Decades-long wait ends as Cottage Vale road upgrade begins

After a 40-year wait, residents of Cottage Vale, St Philip, will finally see their dilapidated cartroad transformed into a durable, wider, smooth, roller-compacted, concrete thoroughfare with improved drainage.

 

The project, funded by CAF – the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean, began on Wednesday and is expected to be completed within four months.

 

Acting prime minister and minister of transport and works, Santia Bradshaw, along with St Philip West MP Kay McConney and MTW officials, visited the site on Tuesday. Bradshaw acknowledged the community’s 40-year wait for the upgrade and stated that the work is expected to be completed in four months.

 

“It’s been over 40 years that the residents up here have been promised by successive administrations that this particular stretch of road, which services several people in the community, would have been upgraded… So, the Cottage Vale Community can expect within the coming few months, I think four months, the full rehabilitation of this particular stretch of road. For the most part, it really isn’t a road, but a pathway through which the residents traverse to be able to get onto the main road. In addition, we’re going to be upgrading the drainage [and] will also be moving some of the utilities to accommodate the new width of the road,” she said.

 

The road will be constructed using roller-compacted concrete (RCC) by Rock Hard Cement under MTW’s CAF programme. This method, although more expensive than asphalt, has been successfully used by MTW since 2024 and is expected to be more durable and withstand heavy rainfall and flooding, officials said.

 

MTW’s project management consultant Craig Archer, from Stonebridge Construction Inc, detailed the scope of the work. The 800-metre road will be excavated, widened to 4.8 metres, and resurfaced with RCC. The project will also include new kerbs, wells and drainage infrastructure.

 

MP McConney expressed her delight that the project was finally underway, highlighting the difficulties residents have faced for decades due to the road’s poor condition. She cautioned residents about potential disruptions during construction but asked for their patience and cooperation.

 

“It’s been close to 40 years that this road has not received any kind of attention… We have persons with disabilities…, we have persons who would tell us that the taxis when they came home late from work at night, would drop them at the top of the gap because the taxis refused to come down here at night because of the conditions of the roads. We have people who carry two sets of shoes because when it rains, this entire area, where we are standing going towards the west, floods…. “And so, whether it’s for the safety…, whether it is simply for access because a number of residents have not had the right kind of access, as well as for us being able to take care of the people here…, we are now able to do better by the people of Cottage Vale.”

 

Fabian Vaughan, a resident and advocate for Cottage Vale, lamented that the road’s condition had caused people to move away from the district. He expressed his happiness that work was starting and looked forward to the positive impact the new road would have on the community.

 

The roadworks come two years after the residents issued a petition with hundreds of signatures reiterating their longstanding call for a proper road in the community that lies due west of Webb Hill.

(BT/MTW)