Worst part will be fixed first, NRA confirms
No specific start date has been set, but funds have been approved for the worst half-mile of Rum Point Drive to be rebuilt or repaved.
National Roads Authority Board member Stanley Panton gave an update on district roadworks at a public meeting in North Side on Thursday night, explaining how funds had been allocated. The largest portion was for Rum Point Drive.
This is not just a district road, he noted; it is well used by people from all around Grand Cayman who want to visit the popular recreational areas at Rum Point and Kaibo.
Paul Parchment, deputy managing director [*], confirmed Friday that the authority was aiming to start the work before the rainy season [usually May].
The worst section of the road will be tackled first, he said, and the project does not involve just paving.
“Certain parts are so damaged that if you put hot mix over them, it would be like putting a Band-Aid,” Mr. Parchment said.
There is one stretch of 500 to 600 feet where workers will be taking out an old section of the road base before rebuilding it and then paving, he indicated.
The first phase is approximately 2,600 feet in the vicinity of Driftwood Village. It is limited in size because, “we don’t have the funds available” to do more, Mr. Parchment acknowledged. Another section will be budgeted for the next financial year, which starts in July.
North Side MLA Ezzard Miller, who called the public meeting in the Craddock Ebanks Civic Centre, announced that he had met with police about the obstruction on Rum Point Drive caused by vehicles parked along the road at construction sites.
Construction projects should provide off-road parking for workers, he said, but until that is done officers will be giving tickets.
Several members of the audience suggested that construction machinery had caused the road damage.
Mr. Miller also discussed roads in housing developments, with ideas about how to pay for them.
Mr. Panton named the district side roads that will be receiving attention in the 2013-14 budget.
He said “four or five” side roads had been approved in each district. The only major road getting work done, other than Rum Point Drive, is the Linford Pierson Highway in George Town.
[*} Editor’s note: The earlier story has been changed to reflect the misidentification of Mr. Paul Parchment, the National Roads Authority representative at the meeting.
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Surprise Surprise Anton Bodden Road or Bodden Town by pass which is possibly the worst main road in Grand Cayman is once again missed out when it comes to being repaired or in fact having the temporary surfacing finally having it wearing course installed. The thing that makes road even more of a Joke is that when you build a sub-division you have to install 2 of tarmac and so the small less trafficked side road are tarmac and the Main by pass road is chip and spray with two terrible sleeping policemen humps. We were why the main traffic continues to thunder through BT high street; well just drive down the by pass and you will soon see why!!
Rum Point Drive is in fair better condition than this road as it was paved in 2007 after Water Authority installed it mains along that road.
It appears no matter which party is in power Bodden Town gets no benefit. The last government paved roads in West Bay and Brac and the previous government did By-passes but NOT in Bodden Town. It by-pass is only paved at both ends which were done by the developers of the subdivisions and middle section seems to be forgetting apart from the hundreds of patch holes.
If this road had it 2 blacktop finally installed and increased the limit to 30 mph from 25 mph then all the heavy trucks that currently go through the high street could be diverted and it would safe and pleasant to walk in Cayman’s Historical Capital, which would benefit local and tourists alike!