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Ministry of Works Resumes New Providence Road Repairs

Tue, Jul 18th 2023, 02:06 PM
Politics Roadwork

In an effort to eliminate the current backlog of road defects in New Providence, the Ministry of Works and Utilities has resumed weekend and night repairs. The Ministry hosted a technical briefing Monday, July 17, 2023 to give an update on its pothole patching program.

Francis Clarke, Senior Civil Engineer with responsibility for Road Construction and Maintenance, Bahiyyah Hepburn, Assistant Civil Engineer/Road Maintenance Manager and Ryan Rahming, Bahamix General Manager, led the briefing.
 Said Mr. Clarke, “The contractors for 12 zones of New Providence have been renewed and have already started road repair works. The main focus at the moment are the arterial, collector roads and residential areas that are most affected. We have upgraded our contracts to include resurfacing areas that require too much patching.

“Our staff from the Ministry and 12 private contractors are working diligently to repair our roads day and night through pothole patching and repaving/resurfacing. The Ministry is always fully aware of the concerns through our Hotline and monitoring of more than 800 miles of road within New Providence not inclusive of some private sub-divisions.”

Among the intersections scheduled for resurfacing are: East Street and Balfour Avenue, East Street and Cordeaux Avenue, Carmichael Road and Cow Pen Road and a segment of Windsor Field Road by Charlottesville.

In addition to paving that is currently being carried out on East Street (south), paving is also planned for: Baillou Hill Road (south), Tonique Williams Darling Highway, Joe Farrington Road, Lincoln Boulevard and Carmichael Road.

Ms. Hepburn explained that there are 12 zones which are managed by assistant engineers and tended by a single contractor.  Each assistant engineer is responsible for 2 zones.  Most of the information is received from the Hotline, which is processed and instructions are disseminated to the contractors.

She said the Ministry’s ideal response time is within a 2-day period for arterials, 3 days for collectors, 5 days for locals.
 She explained that the goal is based on an “ideal” situation where all resources are mobilized, some persons are on the road working, there is access to material for patching and suitable weather conditions exist.

“Right now our response time is not ideal. We’re trying to close the gap right now,” she said.

Mr. Clarke said the Ministry is looking at what it can “do better” and endeavours to improve all of the roads in New Providence.

“The MOW recently hired 25 young men and women between the ages of 18-25 to increase our human resource. We are also going to be outsourcing the road maintenance division in terms of new/heavy equipment; all of this is to improve the response time to attend to the public complaints.

“In the past contracts we had just pot-hole patching. We have installed in the contracts a paving component. If we believe it [the road] needs to be paved, the contractor would go in and pave the stretch.”

Mr. Clarke said roads built during the New Providence Road Improvement Project (which began in 2001), perform much better than the majority of the roads that were built 60 years ago.

“We have an improved drainage system on the new roads which will require maintenance after a while. The roads you see flooding and have issues are old roads built years ago. Once areas start to develop, you clear down land you reduce the ability of the land to drain itself. The limestone structure has a lot of cavities. If you clear the land you reduce the land’s ability to drain itself. That is why we have a lot of flooding on the older roads.”

He revealed that the MOW is working to improve the conditions of Dowdesdwell Street -- a flood-prone area.

In an effort to eliminate the current backlog of road defects in New Providence, the Ministry of Works and Utilities has resumed weekend and night repairs. The Ministry hosted a technical briefing Monday, July 17, 2023 to give an update on its pothole patching program.
Francis Clarke, Senior Civil Engineer with responsibility for Road Construction and Maintenance, Bahiyyah Hepburn, Assistant Civil Engineer/Road Maintenance Manager and Ryan Rahming, Bahamix General Manager, led the briefing.
 
Said Mr. Clarke, “The contractors for 12 zones of New Providence have been renewed and have already started road repair works. The main focus at the moment are the arterial, collector roads and residential areas that are most affected. We have upgraded our contracts to include resurfacing areas that require too much patching.
“Our staff from the Ministry and 12 private contractors are working diligently to repair our roads day and night through pothole patching and repaving/resurfacing. The Ministry is always fully aware of the concerns through our Hotline and monitoring of more than 800 miles of road within New Providence not inclusive of some private sub-divisions.”
Among the intersections scheduled for resurfacing are: East Street and Balfour Avenue, East Street and Cordeaux Avenue, Carmichael Road and Cow Pen Road and a segment of Windsor Field Road by Charlottesville.
 
In addition to paving that is currently being carried out on East Street (south), paving is also planned for: Baillou Hill Road (south), Tonique Williams Darling Highway, Joe Farrington Road, Lincoln Boulevard and Carmichael Road.
Ms. Hepburn explained that there are 12 zones which are managed by assistant engineers and tended by a single contractor.  Each assistant engineer is responsible for 2 zones.  Most of the information is received from the Hotline, which is processed and instructions are disseminated to the contractors.
She said the Ministry’s ideal response time is within a 2-day period for arterials, 3 days for collectors, 5 days for locals.
 
She explained that the goal is based on an “ideal” situation where all resources are mobilized, some persons are on the road working, there is access to material for patching and suitable weather conditions exist.
“Right now our response time is not ideal. We’re trying to close the gap right now,” she said.
Mr. Clarke said the Ministry is looking at what it can “do better” and endeavours to improve all of the roads in New Providence.
“The MOW recently hired 25 young men and women between the ages of 18-25 to increase our human resource. We are also going to be outsourcing the road maintenance division in terms of new/heavy equipment; all of this is to improve the response time to attend to the public complaints.
“In the past contracts we had just pot-hole patching. We have installed in the contracts a paving component. If we believe it [the road] needs to be paved, the contractor would go in and pave the stretch.”
Mr. Clarke said roads built during the New Providence Road Improvement Project (which began in 2001), perform much better than the majority of the roads that were built 60 years ago.
 
“We have an improved drainage system on the new roads which will require maintenance after a while. The roads you see flooding and have issues are old roads built years ago. Once areas start to develop, you clear down land you reduce the ability of the land to drain itself. The limestone structure has a lot of cavities. If you clear the land you reduce the land’s ability to drain itself. That is why we have a lot of flooding on the older roads.”
He revealed that the MOW is working to improve the conditions of Dowdesdwell Street -- a flood-prone area.
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