MONTEGO BAY, St James — Speeding motorists have been blamed for the scores of non-functioning street lights on St James’s Elegant Corridor, sections of which have been in darkness for several weeks.

Checks carried out by the Jamaica Observer West earlier this week revealed that roughly 17 per cent of the almost 800 street lights that were installed less than a year ago at a cost of $248.5 million along the 17-kilometre corridor, which runs from the Sangster International Airport roundabout to Lilliput, were out of service.

The Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) provided funding for the project.

Badly affected sections of the thoroughfare – which boasts a number of St James’s finest resorts – are in the Lilliput area, as well as parts of the roadway in the vicinity of Half Moon Hotel and Sea Castles.

Community Relations Officer for the National Works Agency (NWA) Western Region, Janel Ricketts, told the Observer West that efforts are being made to restore a significant number of the lights in short order, but she emphasissed that it’s a costly venture.

She disclosed that since the lights were commissioned last July, 21 poles have been knocked down as a result of motor vehicle crashes, adding that it will cost an estimated $7.4 million to have them replaced.

She explained that whenever a pole is damaged, it usually causes several of the street lights in close proximity to malfunction.

Three months after the lights were commissioned by then Tourism and Entertainment Minister Dr Wykeham McNeill, he bemoaned that they were being destroyed at an alarming rate by reckless drivers.

“We put up the lights on the Elegant Corridor. It has made a tremendous difference in terms of beauty and safety. However, already in the last three months, we have had about eight or nine accidents, which have knocked down a number of the poles,” he lamented then.

He said that after discussions with the police, the NWA and the Mayor of Montego Bay, a decision was taken to recover the cost of the damage from the insurance of the culpable motorists.

“When those poles are knocked down, every car insurance, if it is even third-party insurance, the NWA must apply for it. When somebody hits down what is called road furniture, it must be covered and the agencies must go and ensure that the person who knocked it down come and fix it back,” the former minister stated.

He said then that the police would be increasing their vigilance along the corridor in order to cut down on speeding, which he stressed is the main contributor to the crashes on the roadway.

But while Ricketts could not confirm whether the NWA has been successful in recovering the cost of the damage to any of the street lights on the Elegant Corridor, she stressed that her legal department is “pursuing the matter aggressively”.

Ricketts said the matter of speeding has been a cause for concern along the corridor, emphasising that the NWA has in recent times implemented a number of initiatives to keep speeding motorists in check, but the reckless driving continues unabated.

“The matter of excessive speeding is of great concern to us. We have been trying to have drivers travel within the speed limits and to observe the traffic lights on the corridor, but the motorists continue to speed,” said a seemingly frustrated Ricketts.

She pointed out that early last year, for instance, the NWA installed rumble strips at three locations on the corridor – in the vicinity of Holiday Inn Sunspree Resort, Rubis Gas Station and Coral Gardens Police Station – where there have been a number of fatalities, in an effort to reduce excessive speeding along that thoroughfare.

Rumble strips are a series of small raised pavement markers, which are installed in the road surface to produce noise and vibration whenever tyres come into contact with them. The installation, it is believed, will alert motorists of the need to slow down in anticipation of danger.

Additional signs were also erected, as well as the re-marking of sections of the roadway.

The agency also installed ceramic road markings, six inches in height, along a section of the soft shoulder at the Blue Diamond intersection, as it was observed that some motorists have been using the soft shoulder as a through road, creating an unsafe environment for pedestrians trying to navigate the busy intersection.

The Observer West was unable to ascertain from the St James Police the number of accidents that have occurred on the Elegant Corridor in recent times, but a traffic cop who did not want to be named said, “The number is frightening.”

He said although the police frequently patrol the corridor, “…it would appear that more patrolling needs to be done, especially at nights when most of the accidents occur.”