• Category

  • Content Type

Advertisement

Work on Palisadoes Strip to Begin This Week

February 20, 2008

The Full Story

Communications Manager at the Ministry of Transport and Works, Reginald Allen has said that work will begin on the Palisadoes strip this week.
Mr. Allen informed JIS News that the work, which is part of the Ministry’s long term plans for the strip, is crucial at this time because of its gradual degradation resulting from rising sea levels.
“Two contractors have been engaged to do remedial work on the strip, which should be getting off the ground any time now. They will be reveting the roads, which is to recover the sidewalks, that is to take back eight feet from the sea, but they have to put in the stones that can withstand the ravages of the sea,” he said.
Reveting, he explained, is a meticulous technique that involves the packing of stones/rocks in such a way as to absorb the energy of the incoming water, thus preserving the sidewalks and offering protection. The stones used are typically hard ones that are exceedingly resistant, so as to armour and protect the land behind them.
The Communications Manager pointed out that part of the problem with the strip is that there are five problem points/areas that are always being infiltrated by water.
“Two are particularly significant.in those five areas. The water has essentially taken away the roadside, so at certain points you have the sea touching the edge of the actual driving surface,” he said. While not indicating the exact locations of these five points, Mr. Allen noted that they are spread out along the strip.
He said that the work, which should have taken place from February 11, was halted because the contractors were storing the boulders, which were being specially sourced. “They have been storing boulders that are of a certain specification. The materials are on site and they are now at a point where they can start the work,” he said.
The remedial work being done on the strip is a sub-project of the Cuban Road Repair project, that will be implemented over several phases.
The work, which was started on a section of the Palisadoes strip, involves the use of large boulders to create a man-made barrier to protect the roadway from the high tides. “The project had started and a relatively small section had been done with huge boulders, which completely protected the peninsula from the sea side where there are a lot of storm surges. that area has never been penetrated since it was done,” he pointed out. Smaller boulders, however, will be used in the current remedial work on the strip.
He added that the Cuban project was very expensive and as such it was discontinued. “It required extensive funding and would have to be done over time in stages,” he said.
With the Ministry recognizing the significant benefits of the Cuban project, the decision was taken to submit it to the Caribbean Development Bank for funding, which they have now received.
“The most critical thing is to reclaim the road sides so what they will be doing is putting in revetments, which is utilizing stones to reclaim the sidewalks and to put in physical measures to contain that level of infiltration, should we have significant weather,” he stressed.

Last Updated: February 20, 2008

Skip to content