Lindeners have been complaining about the state of the roads; this week we ask drivers for their opinion. Their responses follow:
Keith Hollingsworth, taxi driver – ‘The state of roads in Linden is very bad. Even though they are trying to do over these roads they are not doing it correctly. They are supposed to be doing the roads along with proper drains. Additionally, when they are paving the road they are to do it from gutter to gutter because what is happening is that they are doing the mid section of the road and leaving the parapet area so when it rains the parapets erode taking the roads as well. They need to take example of how the Winifred Gaskin Highway was done. That is one of the best roads in Linden right now and it was done from gutter to gutter; even the drains were done. This thing where they are mixing the laterite with sand I don’t see it making sense. In the PNC times when they were building roads they did it with pure laterite and those roads stand up. Take a look at the roads in Block 22. I don’t know what they call that. Going there is like you going to the cane field. It is my money – because I pay taxes – they using to do the roads and they ain’t standing up. I want to see my money put spent properly.’
Dellon Johnson, short drop taxi driver – ‘The materials they are using today to do these roads they are saying it’s cheaper, everybody trying the cheaper way but when you look at it in the long run it makes no sense; within a matter of three months or even less the road gone again with lots of potholes. Driving on these roads is a disaster. When they are finished working and you drive on the road the bricks start rolling, when the sun is hot the tar melts and that’s another sad story for drivers, pedestrians and everyone. I feel if they are going to do the roads they should spend the money and do it right so that it would last longer and in the end cost less.’
LeAndre Johnson, driver – ‘Look at roads in Linden from a different angle. Today they are more vehicles on the streets in Linden than ever before and I strongly feel the traffic authorities should look into the proper erection of signs. For strangers coming to the town it is very hard to determine which streets are one-way from which are not. They also need to also look into street parking lots as well. Whenever there are activities the roads are usually impassable to vehicular traffic and this is because roads are too narrow and there is limited parking. So hand in hand with looking at repairing these terrible roads around we need to take into consideration those other issues I mentioned.’
Robert Greene, taxi driver – ‘I am not satisfied with the roads we have in Linden. As a taxi driver you go all around Linden you can see a lot of bad roads with potholes and a lot of things. When we take into consideration the building of the roads it is not properly built as far as I am concerned. As an ordinary citizen I can tell you that if you building roads you have to build it from one end to the other. What we are seeing now is them doing the middle part and leaving the sides unfinished and then the gutter piece is undone what happens is that the road will break away from both sides. Then eventually you don’t have any road and money is wasted and people are uncomfortable. The other thing is when we building drains we need to do them with solid cast and not these concrete blocks that they are using now. It can’t work we need solid drains that can effectively take off the water.’
Glenroy Tappin, taxi driver – ‘Basically I think the roads are in an atrocious condition. The majority of them are rough and rugged for the longest while. It seems like nobody cares especially those in authority of taking care of the road they don’t give a damn. There are many cases when you have to transport elderly folks, emergency cases, you have pregnant women and so on and these bad roads are affecting people and they need to be done. That’s how I see it. The other thing is that these roads are doing a lot of damage to people’s vehicles and so I think that something needs to be done about this very soon.’
Ruel Roberts, private car driver – ‘I am not a Lindener but I am visiting today and from what I see most of the roads are lower than the level of the drains and so when it rains the water overtops and floods the roads. I was fortunate to work on some of the roads at Wismar and what we did was to raise the roads a bit and that would have spoken to the flooding of some roads to a large extent. Other than that there are some roads that need urgent and careful rehabilitation.’
Rudolph Alexander, private car driver – ‘I want to talk about the roads in our community, Coomacka, which are very bad and need looking after. In Coomacka the roads have some really big potholes and most times the potholes are filled with water. When you drive through them it would be surprising how low your vehicle would go. In some sections there are drains across the roads it is even worse on the back road to Old England (Maria Elizabeth); there is actually a creek in the centre of the road. If we could get these roads repaired it would be very good. The entire mines road is very bad and this is because for a very long time they haven’t graded the road. We feel like the forgotten people in this part.’
Cleveland Barker, minibus driver – ‘I think the roads in Block 22 are really bad. The last time they came and did the roads I don’t know what in God’s name they did. They just graded it, throw a little bitumen, throw a little tar then in couple months the roads gone back to an even worse state than they were in the beginning. In Amelia’s Ward you have the same problem too. You can’t take your bus to some parts. Some customers get angry with you when you say you can’t take them there but we the drivers are the one whose pockets feel the squeeze. So let the world be friends with everyone – just do the roads properly. In Linden we have the worst roads and that’s a fact not an opinion.’
Elvin Lorrimer, minibus driver – ‘In Linden the roads around town are deplorable and I notice that they start doing some remedial works on it but even what they are doing is mediocre. They are putting some very thin layers of asphalt and in no time the roads are going to break up again. It’s such a waste of valuable time and money. I think they need to do better work. I don’t know if it’s the contractor and the money they are getting. But even when they do a road within two years it gone back with sheer potholes. They need to do something better to improve the state of roads in Linden. They need upgrading as one of the leading towns in Guyana.’
James Lewis Jr, taxi driver – ‘I think personally that the roads really need doing urgently because as a driver the cost for the parts that we usually have to be replacing and repairing is not feasible. Due to the bad state of the roads you find that people don’t get to be taken to the necessary area that they want to go because a lot of drivers don’t want to go certain places because of the state of the road and I think that if they look after the road, residents would be able to get a better service.’