Fix it or close it: Elevator road a disaster waiting to happen
BVI News photo of Elevator Hill in the Sea Cows Bay area of Tortola.
Describing the issue as a disaster waiting to happen, Third District Representative Julian Fraser has called on the government to promptly fix the road commonly known as the Elevator Hill or have it closed.
According to Fraser, the road is a danger to motorists plying that route.
Fraser made the comment while addressing concerns of constituents during a public meeting on Thursday, June 7.
“It is a very heavily used road [and] there is a portion of the road just as you are leaving Sea Cows Bay that is very steep and it causes trucks – in particular, concrete trucks – to spill concrete on the road,” he said.
The Third District Representative said over time, the residual build-up of concrete has caused motorists to utilize one side of the Elevator, which was developed for two-way traffic.
Fraser said the surface of the thoroughfare was further compromised when a utility company dug in a section of the road to run cables.
“So with the undermining and the traffic, that section of the road has broken away and it’s only now waiting for, God forbid, for a vehicle to run on it and spill over and come down the hill.”
Fraser claimed he previously raised concern in the House of Assembly and pledged to continue to champion the cause until the matter is addressed.
He said work begun on the road roughly one year ago but those works remain incomplete.
“I have been asking the government to go and clean the road for over two years now and they have been promising me that they were going to do it,” Fraser said.
“I have said this before, the minister [of Communication and Works Mark Vanterpool] needs to close that road if he is not going to fix it because something is going to happen.”
“I don’t think it’s rocket science what needs to be done. The government knows what they need to do in terms of where the concrete trucks are concerned. Sit down with the concrete truck companies and figure out what is causing it and stop it,” added Fraser while describing the heavy equipment vehicles as the root of the problem.
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dodgy af
hannah’s road aint been touched in at least a decade. both in your district. good to see you speaking now your seat is in jeopardy
HANNAHS ROAD IS FINE!!! IS THE SEWAGE.
The concrete companies should be made to fix it. It’s mainly there trucks spillis the concrete down it
It’s a small piece of road and well traversed, how hard is it to fix, even if they temporarily overlay it for now? That road is very dangerous especially when wet, dusty or a panicked driver traversing..
He is not wrong, but it is far from the only road in the BVI in this condition.
The road is so steep that the concrete spills from the over-laden concrete trucks using Elevator Hill. That is coupled with the upper and lower portions of the roadway being significantly narrow… Too narrow for a midsize SUV and a large pick-up to safely pass. Since the deluge of August Monday, large sections of the downhill side of the roadway have given way and are sliding happily downwards. The whole roadway from Ridge Road to Sir Francis Drake Highway needs to be improved and built to a higher standard.
The whole thing is exceedingly dangerous given that it is a road heavily frequented and abused by the concrete trucks,trucks that often run in herds!
The bottom section of the ‘elevator’ road is poorly designed, constructed and maintained. The section from the main highway up to the first switchback is simply too steep for a nearly 150 degree switchback. Please close this section then design and build a better 2 lane road with a moderate incline and no switchback.
Need to pay our consultant bothers from St Lucia another half million to come back and tell us what they did wrong during the last consultation that cost half a million dollars.
They could do that at the same time as they are consulting with the other $600,000 dollars they have been given. They have proven their worth to the BVI.
Should have had them consult on the Airline too, we could have lost $15,000,000 instead of just 7 that way, and felt good that at least some friend of a friend got soemthing out of it.