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Residents complain of the deplorable state of Shirley Field Access Road
By Shervin Belgrave
The current state of the Shirley Field Access Road
Kaieteur News’ reporters on Sunday jumped over large potholes filled with stagnant water along the Shirley Field Access Road, South Ruimveldt, just to listen to how its deplorable state is affecting the daily lives of the residents living there.
This newspaper had received an invitation from one of the frustrated residents affected, Simira Duncan, to get a firsthand glimpse of the condition of their access road. Reporters visited the location on Sunday and it was quite evident that the entrance of the road was filled with large potholes. Drivers exiting the street manoeuvred their vehicles carefully through the potholes. As they passed by, one can hear the bottom of their vehicles “jamming the edge of the potholes loudly.
Pedestrians walking in or out only had two options; one was to take off their shoes and walk through the dirty waters or if they are young and fit, skip or jump across the potholes, hoping that they don’t fall in.
A Kaieteur News reporter jumping over a pothole on Sunday to exit the Shirley Field Road.
Speaking with Kaieteur News, one of the residents, Malinda Parris, said that the road has been this way since last year November when construction works started on Mandela Avenue. Shirley Field Road is connected to Mandela Avenue, which has been recently expanded along with Sherriff Street by the government as an initiative to reduce traffic congestion along the East Bank corridor.
According to Parris, the entrance of Shirley Field might have been destroyed as a result of the construction works that were being executed on Mandela Avenue. “I think it (when the potholes started forming) was since in November when they started the road. It wasn’t so bad but then as the big trucks came in, because they were doing the work and using the machinery that is what make the road deteriorate more”, Parris told Kaieteur News.
She related that residents had raised the matter with the minister and were told that it would be repaired after the construction works on Mandela Avenue were completed. They reportedly agreed and waited but after the construction was completed, no one came to conduct the repairs. Another resident, a pensioner, Gloria Davis related that after they queried again at the relevant ministry for an update, they were told that the repairs would have been done in December last year but to date, nothing has been done.
Meanwhile as they continue to wait on the relevant authorities to carry out the repairs, the deplorable condition of the road is affecting their livelihoods. Parris said that she was forced to spend money to repair her SUV. In order to reduce the unwanted expense, they tried filling the potholes with bricks and stones but when the rain falls, the temporary fix gets washed away and the holes get deeper.
Davis, the pensioner, said that she has a “sick foot” and would normally take taxi when it’s time to pay the doctor a visit, collect her pension, or transact any other business but with the current state of the road, no taxi wants to pick her up. If they do decide to take the hire, they would charge her double the price and even if she tries to walk out to Mandela Avenue to catch a bus, Davis cannot jump over potholes and does not want to risk walking through the waters.
“I can’t go out, I can’t go out, cause I got to go in taxi because I have a bad foot right. I does got to use taxi and when you call, they don’t want to come. Sometimes, they does take hours to come…They need to do the road man; this is the main entrance to come in here…and then you got to pay $800 to come but you have to pay it if you want to come,” Davis said.
Travis, who runs the Next Level Wash Bay inside of Shirley Field is also affected by the state of the road. “The state of the road deh, right now, it serious cause since it get bad, me ain’t getting no kinda work cause people frighten to bring them car in hay fuh wash,” related Travis. When it rains, said Travis, getting customers is even worse because no one would wash their car to drive through the “muddy waters” immediately after.
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