After residents were made to endure deplorable road conditions within the Lambert community for an extensive period, members of the Public Works Department (PWD) were spotted on Thursday conducting patchworks on the roadways.

Those public works came just one day after BVI News reported that private business owners within the heavy equipment and cement industries had donated their services to repair a few damaged roadways in the Greenland and Lambert communities on the eastern end of Tortola.

While members of the district were happy that the long-existing problem was finally being addressed by the relevant authority, some were not pleased with the end result of the patchwork from the Public Works Department.

BVI News investigated the area and observed that several of the concrete patches were undermined by vehicle tire markings.

Our news centre also found incomplete patch jobs on the roadway.

Noncompliant motorists created difficulty

After reaching out to the Director of the PWD, Jeremy Hodge, he informed BVI News that his team had experienced a number of challenges while working in the area.

He said most drivers were not adhering to the detour signs and were instead using abusive language towards the PWD workers on duty.

Hodge said this became difficult to manage and resulted in the quality of work being compromised.

“What was reported to me is that they did not get much cooperation from the motoring public in the area so they had a hard time controlling motorists as they drove past,” Hodge explained.

“Signage and cones are one of the protocols they would use to alert the public of what you’re doing so that they can move with caution. But even some of my team members were telling me that they were fearful for their safety because some persons were acting as if they wanted to run them down,” he added.

Works to continue today/Asphalt to be laid next week

Director Hodge also said his team will recommence work in the area today, Friday, September 11 to finish the uncompleted areas.

“What we were doing was to try to put some concrete on that concrete road stretch area. But what we’ll have to do now given that we have those tire tracks going through the concrete; we’re going to be laying asphalt from next week. This, of course, is easier to apply and as you put it down you can basically drive on it,” Hodge stated.

He continued: “We had a few delays and of course with the curfew in place, we are trying to get the stuff done within the curfew perimeters.”

New road design for Lambert community

Hodge further said his department is working on new designs to completely change the current road infrastructure in Lambert and will be collaborating with other departments to ensure seamless execution of the plans.

“We are working with the Water & Sewage Department because we don’t want to actually fix the road and then they’re having to lay these pipes. They have ordered some of the pipes already and they’ll be installing these pipes, I hope, within a few weeks or in a couple months’ time,” he stated.