By elgin taylor, STAR Writer

The heavy rainfall across the island brings into focus the fact that something has gone terribly wrong with our road infrastructure.The condition has got progressively worse over the past 25 years.

Gone are the days when Jamaica boasted well-constructed road surfaces which guaranteed some form of durability. Whatever happened to barber green asphalt technology? Those roadways were built to last and last and last.

Nowadays, with our modern technology, certainly the Jamaica's version, we find that after two to three days of continuous rainfall, some 70 per cent of our road surface becomes severely eroded. Is it because of the materials currently being used, or is it the lack of expertise on the part of road construction crews, or both?

Tax payers' money is being wasted or more aptly put, being squandered. Who gives a hoot? And when will this haemorrhaging of public funds be arrested?

The National Works Agency (NWA), the modern body which oversees the building and maintenance of our roads, says that the materials used in road construction are determined by the design which is required. This has to do with the type of traffic that will traverse the roadway and also the level of the loading capacity of such vehicles.

The source at the NWA was quick to point out that the agency has all but done away with the practice of putting marl on the roads, and has opted for graded stones instead.

Hence, a standard road would require scraping of the surface or some form of excavation, followed by a compacting layer and then a layer of graded stones before applying the asphalt, as the case may be.

Does this represent international standards? And what about our own Bureau of Standards, have they provided the necessary certification? Certainly, there needs to be a rethinking about this whole matter.

And talking about standards. My daughter who recently studied in Cuba said that in all her six years there, she never saw a pothole. Can we Jamaicans believe that?

We have qualified engineers in this country, so why can't we have a decent road network?

Maybe that, too, has fallen prey to pork-barrel politics.