Residents of Spring Bank in St Thomas, who were marooned in their community after a section of the road collapsed during Tropical Storm Gustav, will soon be able to move about freely.

This is according to the St Thomas Parish Council, which, in collaboration with the National Works Agency will be working to clear an alternative route through Taris to the community. This road will provide access both to vehicular and pedestrian traffic.

Residents who wish to leave the community are forced to use a footpath that was cut through private property. No vehicles can enter or leave the community.

In a release from the Jamaica Information Service, Mayor of Morant Bay, Haniff Brown, said a crew was working to clear the road and make it accessible. He said "They have their equipment in Taris, which is above Johnson Mountain where there is a road that connects Spring Bank to Johnson Mountain." He added, however, that the road had been abandoned and was in poor condition.

enormous amount

The other route, through Bachelors Hall, is also impassable. Brown said, "A chunk of the road has disappeared and it would take an enormous amount of capital to fix."

Earl Dawkins, Superintendent of Road and Works in the parish, explained in the release that work on the alternative route began on September 2 and should be completed in two weeks. He said the team would have to clear the road of landslides and trees, fill gaps and reform the road. Culverts will also be erected, since the water reportedly crosses the road in three sections.

Last November, this newspaper published a story about the residents' plight, when they were trapped in the community after a period of heavy rains.