A section of the new east-west arterial road is expected to be open by the end of September with a temporary chip and spray surface.
Tony Powell, head mason for the National Roads Authority, and Franklin Smith work on the new Roundabout by the Prospect Primary School on Poindexter Road. |
‘We plan to open the road up from Poindexter to Hirst Road in Newlands, however there will be some restrictions,’ explained Peter Ogden, engineer for Major Projects at the National Roads Authority. ‘We are considering similar times to those put in place following the opening of the Esterly Tibbetts Highway, perhaps from 6am to 7pm.’
The new section of road will have two lanes of traffic going in both directions (East and West) with a median down the centre of the road. This undeveloped central section gives the Roads Authority the ability to expand the road to six lanes at some future date, if traffic volumes warrant it.
Despite the fact that it is now possible to get through, the public is being asked to refrain from driving on the new road until it opens.
‘There is a lot of heavy equipment working on the surface and there are holes and other hazards that make it dangerous’ said Mr. Ogden.
The head of the Roads Authority Ed Howard explained that ‘already one member of the public slid off and went into the swamp.’
The new road will offer residents an amazing new vista. There are large undeveloped sections of land on either side of the road and several bodies of water that are home to a variety of water birds, as well the indigenous terrapin, the hickatee. There are some reports that the same lakes are also teeming with tarpon and snook and these game fish were regularly targeted by local sport fishermen, who would catch them and then release them back into the lake unharmed.
When Cayman Free Press toured the road there was a group of about 40 true sea birds on the side of the road and the Department of the Environment later identified them as Least Terns.
Matt Cottam of the Department of Environment explained that ‘about 40 or 50 of these birds come to Grand Cayman each year to breed, but they have the unfortunate habit of laying their eggs on marl surfaces that are under construction.’
Mr. Ogden said ‘the NRA has been asked to complete the next section of the east-west arterial between Poindexter Road and the Silver Oaks Roundabout by June of next year. It is more complicated because we will be dealing with moving traffic.’
The NRA is still working on the Esterly Tibbetts Highway as well.
‘As expected, a certain amount of subsidence has occurred to the North of Canal Point. It was in this area that we estimated the peat was about 20 feet deep and the road will be re-graded toward the end of the year. A wall also needs to be built through the Hyatt property and road side curbs, lamp posts and then the hot mix asphalt will be put down on the Highway in January or February 2008.’
He said didn’t make sense to put in the water mains, the curbs and so on until the process of subsidence had finished.
In other news from the NRA, a new section of wall is going up along the road in the Low on the Bay section of East End, otherwise known as Old Isaacs.
Hurricane Dean (and Ivan and Wilma) threw a lot of coral rocks and other debris up onto the road in this area and there were some concerns the road itself could be washed out. Heavy equipment is now driving large sheets of metal into the ground alongside the road and at a later date these metal sheets will be capped with rock to make a wall and a curb will be put in for pedestrians.
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