KSAC, NWC agree on guidelines to reduce traffic dislocation during projects
THE National Water Commission (NWC) has accepted several guidelines proposed by the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC) to reduce traffic dislocation on Corporate Area roads where pipes are being laid, Kingston Mayor Desmond McKenzie said Wednesday.
The KSAC proposals to which the NWC has agreed include:
. giving the KSAC and the public adequate notice of roadwork to be done;
. providing the estimated time that the roadwork will last;
. providing adequate signage;
. holding meetings and informing the communities in all the areas where roadwork is to be done; and
. carrying out reinstatement work in consultation with the KSAC and NWA.
The agreement followed last week’s threats by Kingston mayor, Desmond McKenzie, to take out a court injunction preventing the NWC from doing further roadwork until it consulted with the KSAC.
The KSAC alleged that the NWC left trenches on major thoroughfares such as the Windward Road, Ruthven Road and Lady Musgrave Road, where it was laying sewer mains.
McKenzie told Wednesday’s Roads and Traffic Committee that the NWC accepted the proposals during a meeting last Friday with the KSAC and representatives of the National Works Agency (NWA).
“The NWC contacted us and met with the KSAC and NWA for over three hours,” he said.
He said that the NWC accepted most of the proposals put forward by the KSAC and had already started to correct the situation on Ruthven Road and Lady Musgrave Road. The meeting also decided that a technical committee of persons from the three agencies would meet tomorrow, he said.
McKenzie said that the KSAC had also proposed that the NWC seek the council’s approval before undertaking roadwork, and agree to pay compensation for vehicles damaged during roadwork. He added, however, that the NWC said that its principals would have to be consulted before any agreement could be reached on these two proposals.
On Wednesday, McKenzie expressed confidence that the NWC would “live up to the conditions”.
“We have asked the NWC to be more sensitive and to give the public notice so that they can know what is taking place. I am confident that the NWC will try to live up to the conditions,” he said.
The mayor also told the committee that the city would be dislocated next year during the laying of pipes throughout the Corporate Area for the Soapberry sewerage project.
Meanwhile, he informed the committee that the council was seeking $68 million to do emergency work to make 59 link roads accessible throughout the municipality which he said were crucial to the movement of traffic in the city.
The roads include Elspeth Avenue and Bloomsbury Road off Hagley Park Road, Oakland Road leading from Waltham Park Road to Spanish Town Road and Woodhaven Avenue off Molynes Road.
He said that the KSAC had also consulted with the NWA about the situation on Marcus Garvey Drive, Spanish Town Road, Harbour Street and Heroes Circle.
