‘The potholes are too deep’- Opposition Leader
Hon Skelton also said the government should do what the Jr Minister for Tourism and Culture Hon Luce D. Hodge-Smith (R4) suggested, which is to have a team of people to constantly go out on the main roads to inspect and fix as necessary.
“And if you can’t throw asphalt then throw something in the holes. Let’s say it’s raining, you can’t throw asphalt. Throw something in the holes until you can throw something else,” Hon Skelton stated during the debate of the Virgin Islands Tourist Board Amendment Bill 2024, at the Continuation of the Nineteenth Sitting of the First Session of the Fifth House of Assembly (HoA) on September 20, 2024.
‘The potholes are destroying’ people’s cars- Hon Skelton
The Opposition Leader said he recently landed at Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport on Beef Island and whilst travelling from East End he could not help but notice the many potholes, which he said “are too deep and they are destroying people’s cars front ends” and that it costs a lot of money to repair some of the vehicles.
“All the way down to the college there were these major potholes and when you get past there you realise that the government was doing something, and I thank you for doing something.”
Hon Skelton noted that West End also has bad roads as well as on Admin Drive and right in front of Republic Bank, where there is a huge pothole developing.
“We just need to erase those holes as they appear.”
The Opposition Leader said the Works Minister may be limited in some ways but Public Works needs to be given the resources to get the roads in better condition.
“I know long ago, Madam Speaker, supervisors in Public Works were assigned to different parts of the major roads. They go out and they do their investigation and they have a team of people and they go and fix what needs to be fixed,” Hon Skelton stated.
Minister for Communications and Works Hon Kye M. Rymer (R5) had said in June 2024, that the plan is to do some interim repair work on roads until major works can be done once the required funding is received.
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35 Responses to “‘The potholes are too deep’- Opposition Leader”
and that statement right there is the issue
the roads need to completely redo and properly engineered. yall kike Hong Kong scholarship programs so much. get the Chinese to come and prepare a plan for these roads
patching and moving on is a never-ending cycle and big old money pit throwing money at it every time something wrong. we need permanent solution even if its costly bcuz in the end paying to fix it temporarily or poorly will add up over time
all the government need to do is fix the drainage do sidewalks and pave the roads properly they will last years!
My car in shamble !
The place is a wreck!
The road construction is diabolical.
Man hole covers are missing or they are not level with the road. They need to be dug up and installed with the road surface. These temp repairs have gone on for so long you dont know where the levels are supposed to be.
Ive seen two holes this week filled in with concrete this week since the government has done nothing. One was like this prior to Irma and ive seen to a car and a truck damaged at the side of the road as a result of hitting the hole. Wheel searing assembly just gave way.
There is just crickets from the Government and no acknowledgement of the pain the voters are feeling.
There were rumors of a 36M invenstment into the Roads from an off island company. The Minister of works as asking to 100K to fix it.
We dont need an airport expansion, or a west end ferry terminal at 62Mil until we get drivable Roads.
Lets dig up the roads. Put Electric, Water, Sewage and Telephone under the roads. Design a propper drainage system for the roads. Then this investment will not just wash asaw to the bottom of Joes will as an example.
The main failure of these road construction is there is no tar poured onto the roads prior to the Asphelt being installed so its not sticking to the concrete. The rain gets under it and lifts it off in sheets. Miss this step and money is just being wasted. I was a guy with a watering can when they installed the road fro Cane to Rudys bar in one day. THis is the fastest ive seen any road like this be constructed in my life.
Same distance in st thomas took 4 years.
Its only one set of people that colonized Africa & had our ancestors down here in chains, whipping & pouring boiling water on them and trafficking them for profit. The same people who claim to be saints today. In comparison what did china ever do. Stop slurping up the propoganda they pour out to confuse us. At this time we were supposed to have Chinese taught in schools or at-least Philippine language to empower the next generation.
Boy we are forever brain washed & stockholm syndromed under the hand of the real racist, to the point where we transform into racist against asian people who never enslaved anyone based on skin color.
we cant have global language taught because the Uk is in charge and in the same breath they say they want the best for us.
ever where u look sh** water running day and night in the road them no wonder pot wholes being made..da patch east they just do just wait till the sh** water from them (two twins that holds high position in government ) hit that patch of road again like nah
a) PWD should declare pothole repair as a top priority.
b) As temporary measure,PWD should adopt ‘ the throw and go’ process. Fill potholes with cold mix pothole mix.
c) Create pothole inspectors, ie, inspectors should drive roads daily on Tortola, Anegada,VG, and JVD and report potholes to a designate work Reception Center ( WRC) where a work order will created.
d) Establish pothole repair ‘Tiger Teams.’ The job of Tiger Teams would be different from Throw and Go Team. A Tiger Team will be assigned a pickup truck, a concrete saw, shovels, picks, brooms, blower, compactor, traffic control devices, asphalt mix or cement, etc. The crew will square up the hole with concrete saw, clean out debris, fill hole with asphalt and compact. It is important that the pothole repair hole is squared up. The Tiger Teams will receive work orders from the Work Reception Center .
e) The Public should be provided with a number to which to report potholes.
f) A 48-72-hour maximum time should be assigned for completing a reported pothole.
1. What is the reason and importance for ‘squaring up’ pothole before filling?
2. Why potholes pop up in our roads so quickly and what can be done to prevent and reduce the number of potholes?
Moreover, let’s look at ‘squaring up’ potholes beyond the impacted area. Squaring up does not mean the area has to be a square. Why pothole repaired area needs to squared up? Squaring up keeps the repaired materials from sliding out when traffic rolls over it. If the potholes are cleaned out and filled with material, when traffic rolls over it , the material tends to slide out.