Works on Grove main access road to be completed today – Min. Edghill

Minister of Public Works, Bishop Juan Edghill announced that infrastructural works on the western side of the Grove main access road are slated to be completed before peak hours on Monday.

The minister made the announcement during a site inspection, where he also highlighted that the bulge is a result of the road not being designed to accommodate the immense weight being transported by trucks.

“The weight that the trucks are fetching is causing this.  So, people will continue to say they fix one spot and another spot breaks because the road doesn’t have the kind of foundation to take the volume and weight of traffic that is currently on it. So, we are hoping that we will close up this spot before peak this afternoon,” he said.

The ministry’s Special Project Unit (SPU) mobilised an emergency team at 10:00 hours to swiftly restore the road to reduce traffic congestion.

Minister Edghill also assured that once the Diamond to Timehri bypass road is completed, the entire Diamond to Good Success road will be rehabilitated.

“This entire section from Diamond going all the way to Good Success is scheduled for full rehabilitation. When this road was built how much years ago, this was the foundation, earth, some stabiliser loam, a layer of crusher run, and asphalt. So, this entire road has to be torn up, a base layer has to be put in place and compacted, then relayed and that is a project in itself and that is why the bypass is open,” the minister explained.

The construction of the bypass is being funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) however, the rehabilitation of the main access road will be fully funded by the government.

Minister Edghill also appealed to truck drivers to be mindful of the weight limit to avoid the continued damage to roads across the country.

“If there is anything that I can say I am begging all of our Guyanese, let’s live and let others live. A truck cannot just load up with any amount of weight because you got space to put more. Every truck owner and every truck driver knows the capacity of their truck, now we are going to see this damage here at Grove because this is a soft spot, but along the highway and other areas there is damage that is taking place over time because of those same overweight trucks,” he added.