Junction on track

Roadwork on tricky corridor to be completed this financial year

THE National Works Agency (NWA) has confirmed that work on the Broadgate to Agualta Vale/ Junction Road in St Mary is to be completed in the second quarter of the 2019/2020 financial year.

NWA, in a statement to the Jamaica Observer North & East last week, also said that contractors are working to meet that deadline.

“The target for the practical completion of works on the Broadgate to Agualta Vale road improvement project is during the second quarter of the 2019/2020 financial year. The practical completion date is one that has been mandated at the highest level and the contractor is working on a schedule to meet this target,” the statement said.

NWA said a number of activities are currently taking place along the 18.4km corridor simultaneously.

“Works on the construction of a box culvert along a section of the roadway is now 90 per cent complete. Works continue on the excavation of the embankment to create the right of way for the widened roadway. Material cut that is suitable is being used as embankment fill for the realigned sections. Also, drainage improvement activities are taking place which involve the installation of pipe culverts along sections of the corridor, as per its new design,” NWA said.

The agency did not state the number of workers currently working on the corridor, but said that the nature of the works being undertaken at any given time determines the number and types of workers employed on the project.

“So, understandably, the number of labourers will fluctuate from time to time.”

The roadway from Broadgate to Agualta Vale is being widened and realigned in sections to create a seven meter-wide two-lane corridor complete with safety features including retaining walls and shoulders on both sides of the roadway.

The Capital A Project, which is valued at $597 million, also includes major drainage improvement works where the recurrent slippage of the roadway at an area known as Chovey is to be corrected. The current project is being implemented under Phase One of the larger Toms River to Agualta Vale GOJ Road Improvement Project.

Work began on the road in April 2018 following the contract signed in November 2017.

(Photos: Naphtali Junior) A loaded truck moves along the Junction Main Road in St Mary where road widening is taking place. A section of the Junction Main Road which is being widened

Vehicles manoeuvre a secion of the Junction Main Road where extensive roadwork is taking place. A backhoe is used to clear this hillside.