The decision by the previous government to widen the ABC Highway and build flyovers will go down as one of the most controversial in a post-independence era. The issue of a flawed tendering process, and the ballooning cost of the project based on a rolling MOU couple with a haphazard changing to the scope of works became a political hot-potato topic in the lead up to the last general election. It was not surprising to many when the new David Thompson led government fired the hitherto unknown 3S Barbados company on assuming office. It should be noted it was done in melodramatic fashion from the floor of the House of Assembly.
BU’s position on the unprofessional way the previous government managed the project is well documented (search BU using key words “flyovers or ABC Highway).
The DLP government has cancelled, for the moment, the decision to build flyovers and in so doing had to retrofit the highway at considerable cost. We can continue to debate whether flyovers is the answer to relieving traffic congestion in Barbados, BU’s concern remains on the process taken to bring us to this point and the subsequent engineering decisions taken by the current administration to complete the highway.
Before we revisit the Upton Wildey Triangle here is a bit of trivia about the ABC Highway:
Did you know that the Design Engineer assigned by Stantec New York to the project (Bryce Walker) has not visited Barbados. Stantec has an office in Barbados and is very active here? There has been numerous design errors, the levels near SOL Wildey gas station and the design of the concrete culverts and the pipe culverts under the road are just a few. Some of these problems BU understands have had to be corrected after 3S left the project. However, the problems with the pipe culverts under the road can only be corrected by digging up some sections of the road. The culverts installed are 8″ diameter while the Ministry does not permit anything smaller than 2 feet diameter. According to our source the maintenance of these culverts will prove a monumental headache as time goes on.
BU must point out the information provided by our source does not gel with what is posted on Stanec’s website.
To the death trap at Upton Wildey: the current situation must be arrested in the interest of saving lifes. Traffic attempting to exit from Upton and merge with the traffic zipping down the hill from the CBC end is fraught with unacceptable risk using our commonsense observation. If successfully clearing the Upton junction was not enough of a challenge; the real test awaits when drivers wanting to turn right at the SOL gas station. The challenge is to cross 3 lanes over a 100 metre stretch competing with traffic whizzing from left and right!
We understand the Ministry of Public Works and by extension the Minister John Boyce, himself an engineer is happy with the current set-up!
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.