By John Myers, Jnr. Staff Reporter
Motorists on Monday driving through the Grants Pen Gully which traverses Grants Pen Avenue, Kingston 8. - Norman Grindley /Staff Photographer
THE NATIONAL Works Agency (NWA), says it will be posting warning signs and depth-markers at the various fordings in the Corporate Area of Kingston and St. Andrew in an attempt to reduce the incidence of motorists being washed away during heavy rain at these crossings.
Vando Palmer, the NWA's communication manager, said plans were in train to design the warning signs and procure the depth-markers but he did not give a time frame for their installation. However, he said a depth-marker was already in place at the Grants Pen Gully to indicate to motorists, the level of the water flowing through the gully.
"We are also going to to be putting up appropriate signs on either (both) approaches of the gully," he said.
Also, the NWA plans to construct bridges over the fordings at Cassia Park and Queensborough.
"We are contemplating a third one which is either going to be at the Grants Pen or the Charlton gullies," Mr. Palmer stated. This will be done, he said, under the Mabie Johnson Bridge Programme which was formulated two years ago to construct 40 bridges throughout the island, over a two-year period.
Some residents of the Corporate Area have expressed concern at the tragedies of motorists being washed away while trying to cross flooded gullies.
They told The Gleaner that the gullies were natural death traps for motorists, pointing to the need for the municipal authorities to put in place proper warning signs to alert motorists of the dangers. They agreed that the construction of bridges across these gullies would prevent motorists from exposing themselves to the danger of the flood waters they carry.
When The Gleaner visited the Cassia Park, Charlton, Benson and the Grants Pen gullies on Monday, there were no warning signs to alert motorists of the potential dangers.
"I feel that if you put a sign there to warn people, they would think before them go in trying to drive through", said one man who lives near the Cassia Park gully.
Barry Smith, who said he has saved many motorists from being washed away, said that most motorists who ventured into these gullies, often realise the danger only after they reach in the middle, and by then it was too late.
Mr. Palmer said that while the NWA recognised the need to take preventive measures, "motorists on a whole seemed to be abandoning caution when utilising these fordings, especially whenever it's raining." He said motorists must exercise discretion on approaching the fordings as the posting of signs alone could not protect them.
Several persons have lost their lives while crossing flooded gullies over the years. The latest incident which occurred on Saturday, claimed the lives of Mrs. Pauline Gray, the Shipping Association of Jamaica's general manager, and Lawson Calderon, a consultant from St. Lucia.
