Road works on Aubrey Barker Road have commenced, fulfilling a commitment made by President Dr Irfaan Ali who visited the community back in June.
The $95.3 million works include widening the road to ease congestion, and the construction of drains to address the issue of flooding, which severely affects the community when it rains.
Public Works Ministry, Traffic Safety Engineer, Shenese Lilly detailing the ongoing works said, “our project is a rehabilitation of the Aubrey Barker Road from David Rose Street to Crithlow Street and it is basic widening. We are catering for more traffic volume so this road can be used apart from the main road, that is northern to this road.”
The works are being executed by Surrey Paving Aggregate Company Caribbean Limited, and are expected to be completed by year end.
Lilly explained that “we are having a widening, approximately two meters and we are going to be building drains towards the sides. We are going to have a new well-laid flexible pavement, approximately three inches thick. So that is going to be adequate in terms of our structural number of pavements. So, we are coming good on the engineering aspect as well as the aesthetic of the roadway”.
Upon completion, the road will be about seven metres wide which will provide two lanes for comfortable use of the road.
Traffic, Safety and Maintenance Manager, Kester Hinds said widening of the road is to cater for the buildup of traffic from Mandela Avenue that needs to access South Ruimveldt and Roxanne Burnham Gardens.
“Because as you know from the upgrade of Mandela Avenue, the openings are limited, so persons who are traversing west to east, there is not much turning off of areas that they can connect into Roxanne Burnham and even in this section of South Ruimveldt”, he stated.
This is one of many commitments fulfilled by the government following community meetings. Since taking office, the President Ali-led administration pledged to work along with every community to ensure their issues are addressed.