Jamaica – Land of wood and potholes!
Author : teriann
Watch out for those potholes! copyright 2011 The Gleaner
The recent heavy rains have not only tested my creativity at remaining dry but also my driving skills.
I always knew where the potholes were before but now they were hidden under large pools of water.
The worse part of it they seems deceptively small until you try to drive over them. Of course, the damage from the heavy rains was worse in some areas as it led to the collapse of several bridges.
It makes me wonder if there is some kind of special rain we have here in Jamaica that has the ability to melt asphalt. Or could our infrastructure be faulty despite its hefty price tag?
Whatever the reason I struggle just like all commuters to avoid front end damage as I continue to navigate around the death traps on our roads. What are your thoughts on the issue? Let me hear from you!
Teri Ann Renee Paisley (Gleaner on-line writer)
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29 Responses to “Jamaica – Land of wood and potholes!”
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Teri Ann, I would go further to say Land of Corruption and Potholes. Maybe rain wouldn’t be so destructive if adequate wood were in the right plalces. And we know that its corruption that is allowing shoddy ineffective National infracture projects to yearly erode so much of the country’s money.
Bad weather distroys roads everywhere. Jamaica is too poor to repair them all in a timely manner. Remember last winter,the UK was snowed under and planes could not land. Heathrow did not have sufficient de-icing machines nor London enough snow moving equipment. Jamaica is not special, we are just another poor country. Our road are no more badly built nor is our rain special. WE ARE POOR!
This is why Jamaica have so much problem too much potholes to put those wood in so the country become pregnant and still cant give birth!.
I feel compelled to comment on the issue, regarding the poor state of the roads in communities across Jamaica, and the lame excuse being given for the severe inconvenience being suffered by the persons being affected. The relevant authorities keep on telling the public, that the reason for the lack of remedial work on the roads, is because the roads in the commnunities have not been formally handed over to the relevant Parish Councils. Hence, officially, there is no-one in charge of these roads, even after many years of existence. I say, it is high time that persons are held accountable for this neglectful actions, which are definitely deliberate, deceptive, and ought to be deemed as criminal. These persons whose reponsiblity it is to do the Handing Over/and Receiving of these roads, should be put un suspension immediately, and swiftly be taken before the courts. These people needs to be imprisoned, and the roads fixed as a matter of priority. Either that, or the Prime Minister and entire government be asked to vacate office, on grounds of perversion of justice. Over the years, each successive government makes our tax burden heavier and heavier, yet there are no signs of progress. Even after forty-nine (49) years of so-called independence, the majority of Jamaicans are worse off than ever before. These two dominant gangs need to be thrown out, and we try the third political party. The persons reponsible need to be sent to prison.
I also wondered if our rain was heavier than elsewhere as it does seem to beat out and melt the asphalt on the roads. On a serious note though the damage that is done after the rains simpy reflects how our infrastructure is in need of maintenance.
Jamaica should be very proud of what you have done in the past decade.
We only started to visit your beautiful country 10 years ago and at that time there were no roadw with out pot holes. It would take us over 3 hours to get from the airport to Couples resorts. The roads were lined with trash, the weeds were right up to the road and little sheds lined the streets as homes.
We noticed a vast change in Jamaicca when we returned in 2004. The roads were new, the trash was cleaned up and I hope the people that were living in the little sheds have found nicer homes.
We love Jamaica and have sent many friends to your wonderful country. The main reason we return is not just the beautiful resorts but the people of Jamaica have a way to make you feel at home.
We are returning this year the week of the Fourth of July and have already reserved for next April.
If you want to see potholes you should come tp Pennsylvaina USA in the winter. Now that is summer here we have to put up with the roads buckeling.
Jamaica should be proud of what they have accomplished in just a few years!
@LittleQ..I have lived in the UK and experienced consistent heavy rains,I was also there last Winter when the UK was snowed under.Yet the roads still remained in tact (not a pot hole in sight) after the rains subsided and the heavy snow was cleared.That is because they were made properly by competent persons who installed adequate drainage systems.However in Jamaica due to corruption and the ‘Party before Country’mentality the contracts for road works are not awarded to the most competent organisation,but to the organisation who is friends with the party in power.
Seems that we have idiots fixing the roads or we need rocket scientist to design and build it for us !
All the time they patch a spot, sooner or later the same spot have a bigger hole..
So true C it seems as if the patch jobs just aren’t working out at all!
Some call them potholes. Until the JAMAICAN PEOPLE stand up and tell the politicians that they need to be more accountable for the tax dollars that they collect, nothing will change.
There are somethings that needs to be pointed out here. First one is that patch jobs only fix the immediate problem, the pothole. The real issue is the roads itself. The design of our roads are poor and disgraceful. How many of our roads have proper drainage to take away the water? How many of our roads turn into rivers when we get heavy rains because there is no way for the water to escape?
Our roads need to be reconstructed in a better fashion with proper drainage system to take away the volumes of water when it rains. This will surely decrease the amount of money wasted on repairing the roads year after year.
Another issue are the people themselves. We throw our garbage into drains then turn around and protest, block roads and burn tires and expect the Government to clean up after us. We as the people need to take more pride and active role in ourselves and surroundings.
MM dont know where in the UK u live but that heavy snow that fall last year leave a lot of potholes all over the country yes potholes is in every country put to be honest jamaica is the worst counrty when it come to potholes u hit the nail on the head C these politician are ripping off the jamaican people they need to be hold accountable for there action
It all comes down to politics. Its all about giving their friends road contracts. If you closely at the roads there is a lot marl and very thin a layer of asphalt which indicates that the roads are deliberately being poorly built to give their boys road repair contracts every year. The roads are also being built with no drainage. Therefore the water has no where to go. SO every year we allocate billions of dollars to patch the same roads. The water commission is also to be blame. They dig up the roads and do a little slap dash repair work on the roads. Why is that all the roads that have been built by the french contractors has withstand all the rains with not even a crack much less a pothole. Why we dont take all that money we are spending every year to patch roads and give it to the french contractors to rebuild all of the major roads. Oh I forget we cant because feeding tree will be dried up.
Almost 30 years ago I left a small community in St. James (Cambridge) The road was deplorable then and today I visit and the road is amlost non existent. There are no explainations for this type of neglect; politicians and other community leaders should be held accountable for the abuse they inflect on the citizens of this community.
I’ve lived in the US since I was a child (born in JA). Heavy rain will ruin your roads; especially if the rain continues for days. The problem with JA is corruption. The politians are not for the people (from top to the bottom is corrupt). I see and hear it each year I visit JA. Sad, but true. In JA the people is never right. In the US the people can voice their opinions and get an answer in a timely fashion. All we need to do is make noise, get the news involved and BOOM problem solve (at least in MD where I live). The politians need to listen to the people and stop fattening their pockets. I guarantee the roads to their homes and destination are paved quite nicely. JA is such a nice country but the people (you know who you are) give it a bad name. I’ve seen improvements since I left 19 yrs ago but JA has a long, long way to travel. The potholes may prevent the hike!
Gayle,
If they money allocated to repair roads in my opinion are use efficiently then we would have reduced some of the woes. St Thomas for example has probably the most pot holes in the country. I easily navigated some on a recent visit as they have been there ten years since I left the country. The question that puzzles me is how much money is allocated each year for road repair and how much is spent on the roads.
I’m no engineer but, any idiot (like myself) would know that the road need to be higher than the drain (the drain is a necessity) and the surface built to direct the water into said drain. Now go take a look at the roads …
anywhere in Jamaica, you’ll see the flat surfaces often with concrete borders and no drains. Add to that the HALF INCH OF ASPHALT they put down and probably BILLED THE GOVERNMENT (People of Ja) for multilayers which they did not provide. Criminals they are, the one’s awarding the contracts and the contractors themselves. How will the country ever get better ? That’s my ten cents !
O. D.
Land of Hood and Watah is soo right
Corrupted leaders dont allow a little funds
to trickled down to the ppl like other countries do
” We will be pothole free by 2003.” Crap spewed by prominent politician!! LOL !!
Oh Jesus , these these potholes. It seems to me that the politicians do not respect the jamaican citizens and therefore think that any thing that they dish out is, and should be accepted without question.
Since the councillors are so far removed from the problems, why cant we have representatives who live in their own communities and will represent themselves when they make a representation? DO NOT TELL ME THAT WE ARE TOO POOR.Look at the areas that the politicians live why do we allow them to lord it over us like landownrs and serfs even when we spend considreable sums to construct respectable houses we are ashamed to invite people into our communities be cause of the deplorable state of our roads.
If we were a people who was intent on uplifting our country we would be a people doing maintainance work where the “millions” quoted by the politicians for simple road repairs would be greatly reduced and our people would be greatly uplifted both in spirit and behaviour.
jamaica the land of wood and water has now become the land of motor vehicle and manslaughter.
Lol, just got back from Jamaica with my Phd.,(Pot Hold Dodging). Let’s face it, the country is poor and the politricktians are good. Spread a little mall here and some tar before elections and the people smile, till next election. What a system….
Potholes are one of the signs that my tax dollars are going nowhere!!! Where is the gas tax money going? Unno memba?? The gas tax we didn’t want but Mike Henry and Audley Shaw were adamant that it was gonna be used to fix the roads. Is it even being collected?? WE NEED ACCOUNTABILITY!!! Thats what we needed to establish..a proper,independent body that deals with govt. accountability..instead of that enquiry where at the end STILL noone was held accountable.
Land of too many things that are bad! I went home a couple months ago and my gluteus maximus became so sore by the time I left because I had to clench by butt everytime we drove anywhere, due to potholes. It’s not even potholes in the roads in Clarendon, it’s roads in the potholes. It’s ridiculous!!! I shudder just thinking about going back to those roads.
On a more serious note, Jamaica will always struggle with these kinds of problems until we fix the education system. It’s beyond broken and until our people become more educated we’re gonna continue to suffer.
I AGREE WITH MM….OTHER COUNTRIES HAVE PROBLEMS WITH RAINING AND FLOODING AND ROADS ARE STILL OKAY. HOW ARE THE ROADS IN GRAND CAMAN? MAYBE JAMAICA SHOULD HAVE STAYED UNDER
BRITISH RULE AND YOU WOULD HAVE BETTER ROADS
AND AN ECONOMY WHERE THE GOVT IS SO CORRUPT!!
IF YOU MAKE A CAKE AND U ADD MILK AND EGGS. THE
CAKE STAYS TOGETHER…..IF YOU MAKE A CAKE AND
U ADD JUST WATER…..THE CAKE WILL FALLS APART.
JAMAICAN ROADS HAVE NO EGG OR MILK….AND EVERYTIME IT RAINS THE POT HOLES WILL RETURN
What ever happened to the Public Works Department (PWD). I grew up right beside the PWD in my little country / town. And I remember when there were PWD all over JA. I also recalled that road work was done continuously on the roads. Each PWD had it lorries (trucks), grader, presser, and contingent of PWD workers. And I recalled forth night when PWD workers were paid; what celebration that was until, back to work again on Monday morning. The roads I see when I go to the country,is worst than it was when I was growing up. I could not believe that driving in the country you had to twist the car cross-ways and side-ways and back-up in order to move forward on any trip. The last time I recalled, dodging a pothole just to drop in one and there went the tire, slap dead in May Pen woods. Out of the blue came a platoon of men and in no time I was good to go. I made them feel that their effort was worth it and every time I passed that area I blew my horn because there was always some one there to “hail u up” and ready to change your tire. By the way, not every everyone can enjoy this amenity. This is not for the weak in heart, if you get a flat just keep driving, you can still travel at the same speed you were travelling before the flat, and that is dead-slow (remember the potholes are abound). I often wonder if this “pot holed-Jamaica” is not a deliberate act on the part of the politicians and their dons. There are enough intelligent people in Jamaica who could build and maintain roads. The ministry of roads and works should they choose could do a better job of road maintenance. There is budget allocated for this infrastructure but over the years politics and greed have send us backwards and our maintenance is simply road patching before election. It is a damn shame. By the way, the roads can be designed with spillways and gutter systems (culvert) to prevent flooding, this is 18th Century engineering. Rain falls in America, Canada, England and if these roads were not maintained we would have potholes. And the potholes in the Bronx get fixed after winter. What amazed me however is the skills of the country taxi driver. When you are driving in one of those “deportees” (used Japanese Toyota station wagons, white in color) these taxi drivers make it seems as if you were driving on Mandella Highway. By the way, the taxi driver that took me to the airport impressed me with his skills of driving through the potholes, however, as soon as he reached the highway I realized that the car was not road ready, it shook like it was dancing to “Bob Marley’s Easy Skanking”. The poor taxi driver only knew he had front end problem on the ‘good road’, on the country road, shaking is part of the drive, a very integral part of the driving.
hi jamaica am just wondering if we realize the rate of missing kids in the country. am living overseas and i heard that bad men taking them away to work in strip club all across jamaica. we need to check this out come on alot of things happen lets try and find these kids we know they in jamaica. please please please please please please
Chicago Area… Brrr… Its sooo crazy cold over there in Winter, and the property taxes are outrageous.