Reading Time: 5 minutes

Possible reintroduction of low traffic volume roads and concrete surface for certain C-Roads

The Government of Jamaica has announced a major overhaul to its road repair and maintenance programme, given years of criticism about the poor state of the country’s road network.

In a statement to Parliament yesterday (February 3) Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation with responsibility for works, Everald Warmington said this new thrust on “the effective maintenance on roads and infrastructure will lead to improvements in the quality and standard of works being  undertaken by the National Works Agency (NWA) going forward”.

He told fellow members of parliament (MPs) that, “there will be no further road construction or rehabilitation without a comprehensive drainage system”.

Warmington advised the Government would be re-examining its approach to the patching and repair of roads, noting that there are some 500 kilometres of road under the control of Central Government.

Proper road maintenance programme being put in place

Warmington further advised that the Government will be moving to implement a proper maintenance programme. He explained that maintenance work will now be viewed as either preventative maintenance or corrective maintenance, which includes performance standards, routine maintenance, periodic maintenance, rehabilitation and emergency repairs.

For performance standards, Warmington said the most effective team size, equipment, methods and procedures for performing the work will be defined for each significant maintenance work item to be utilised.

Routine maintenance (which is preventative maintenance) is the day-to-day maintenance of the nation’s highways, will be carried out throughout the year such as bushing, cleaning, side drains and small repairs to pavement surfaces while periodic maintenance (also preventative maintenance), as its name implies, will be carried out periodically, usually at intervals of a number of years.

“It is important to note that we are dealing with very old infrastructure, and over the years, inadequate funding to satisfy the needs of not only our main roads but also some of our secondary roads.”

Everald Warmington, minister without portfolio with responsibility for works

Periodic maintenance will include resurfacing of the pavement (re-gravelling, resealing or overlaying).

“It is important to note that we are dealing with very old infrastructure, and over the years, inadequate funding to satisfy the needs of not only our main roads but also some of our secondary roads,” the minister with responsibility for works explained.

Rehabilitative maintenance (corrective maintenance) will be carried out when a particular road element has reached a stage where, despite routine maintenance, it does not fulfill the function for which it was originally intended. Warmington told the Lower House of Parliament that emergency repairs will be carried out following heavy damage caused by floods, hurricanes and other natural disasters.

Road conditions to be updated through GIS

He announced that the Government will be updating the conditions of each road using geographic information systems and other methods to audit the conditions of the roads. The last road condition survey was done in 2014.

According to Warmington, “the Planning Department through its Road Planning Unit will urgently commence condition surveys on all the roads under Central Government control. This has to be done before we can put in place a realistic maintenance programme and will allow for the necessary funding to be sourced and prepared.”

In addition, his ministry will be putting in place a National Road Service Improvement Programme, where the first aspect of routine maintenance will be roadside activities. Warmington said this programme will begin with initial clean-up, de-bushing, drain and culvert cleaning.

This initiative will cover Jamaica’s A-Roads, B-Roads (secondary roads) and C-Roads (tertiary roads which total approximately 2,500km).  These, the Minister stated “are normally in the worst condition”.  

Dovetailing road work with that of NWC

Warmington declared that the works of the NWA must be dovetailed with that of the National Water Commission (NWC).

Under this new overhaul to the government’s road repair and maintenance programme, “the NWA cannot complete a project and the National Water Commission comes along shortly afterward to dig up the roads. There must be planning and co-ordination between both agencies so that this practice is a thing of the past. The two agencies, however, have begun collaborating and this will be strengthened”.

He was adamant that all rehabilitation should have a maintenance component beyond the defect liability period.

“We have to do road maintenance when the roads are in fair-to-good condition, rather than waiting until they are in poor condition,” Warmington stressed.

He disclosed that “the Government will be embarking on a programme of crack sealing, adding that a good time to do crack sealing is when the road surface is in fair to good condition”.

Along with proper drainage, he posited that crack sealing is probably the single most important maintenance activity.

Crack filling is done with liquid asphalt, cutbacks and asphalt emulsion and is considered temporary work. The ministry will also be seeking to do more full-depth and deep patching.

The material for the patching will include hot mix asphalt, asphalt emulsion mixes, stockpile patching mix and proprietary mixes with special blends of aggregate and modified binders.

Warmington hinted at the possibility of reintroducing low traffic volume roads and concrete for certain C-Roads and double surface dressing for regular C-Roads that are low volume roads with kerb and channel, ‘V’ drains and ‘U’ drains.

Performance standards for contractors

Under the new regime, performance standards will be set from the beginning. A contractor cannot patch more than a specified square measurement per day and this must be monitored by NWA staff.   

Proper marking must be done before cutting and deep cuts will not be left opened, but will be temporarily filled with material until the day of patching. Closer supervision will be done by the NWA to ensure that the quality thickness of the completed patch is in keeping with the contract, otherwise payment will be withheld.

There will have to be proper compaction of the marl base before any patching is done and the NWA will ensure that the asphalt is also fully compacted.