The recent flooding that has kept authorities busy for days now has also highlighted the fact that some sections of Belize’s infrastructure are in urgent need of upgrading. This was brought home last night in a most graphic manner when an important section of the Western Highway, near Mile 12, had to be temporarily closed to heavy vehicles—creating a flurry of activity as personnel and equipment had to be brought in for all-night emergency repairs to make the Western Highway trafficable for the morning rush hour.
The Belize City NEMO Coordinator, City Councilor Phillip Willoughby, said that the section of the road where the culvert gave way to the pressure of the rising flood waters around Mile 12, had been repaired by 5:55 this morning. “That is the time that the first vehicle was allowed to pass. We had been working on the culvert since 1:00 this morning. The highway was partially closed during this time,” Willoughby said.
Some students from the University of Belize who were travelling toward Belmopan early this morning had to be turned back because the road was not passable for their bus, Willoughby said.
Then, shortly after 6 a.m. the tired road again caved in. This time it was some three miles from the first culvert that had caused the disruption in the night. At Mile 9, a dangerous breach of the road by the flood waters had occurred, as another culvert collapsed under the pressure of the rushing waters. Once more the traffic came to a screeching halt.
The Minister of State in the Ministry of Works, Edmond “Clear the Land” Castro, was one of the persons who were on the scene last night into this morning. Castro said that traffic was flowing, because “we had worked to keep half of the road opened.”
“The culverts in this area are dilapidated. They should have been changed about four years ago. It is possible that another culvert will give way before the flooding is over,” Castro declared. He said that he did not know how much the work to restore the highway will cost. “But between Belize City and Hattieville, all the culverts need to be replaced. The thirty-six inch culverts were never adequate.”
“We need to find the money to replace all the culverts and also to make the proper drainage for the area. The culverts that are in place right now are the reason why West Lake is flooded. They are too small.”
As the Minister searched for a spot to sit and watch the heavy machinery cover the piece of road from where a rotting culvert had been extracted, the signal from the Police Commander of Operations was given for all the small vehicles to proceed toward Belize City. There are a lot of people who are heading for the airport, Assistant Commissioner of Police Crispin Jeffries told one of his subordinates.
“Let the small vehicles through,” he ordered his men.
Jeffries told Amandala that the police were called out to the Western Highway around 11:00 last night, “and they have been here ever since then.”
He told us that “the traffic is backed up for about three miles. In the next hour, at about 11:45, we will allow the big vehicles to proceed to Belize City. Literally hundreds of persons have been affected by this traffic stoppage.”
While Jeffries was speaking to this reporter, there was a continuous procession of travelers who were seen walking past the spot where the work to restore the road was going on. Some of the persons walking had their travel luggage in their hands, as they walked through the low water, heading down to Belize City. Many of the travelers took off their shoes, as they waded in the water that was across the road at some points along the long line of vehicles.
One truck driver we spoke with, Jose Diaz, whose tractor-trailer rig was coming from Spanish Lookout this morning, said that he has been at the same spot since 6:00 this morning. His, and the other heavy vehicle drivers, have been waiting for the road to clear for the last five hours.
“This morning the water was not this high when I parked here. The water is rising,” Diaz told Amandala.
By midday, the spot near Mile 9 where the culvert was taken out was backfilled and the area temporarily repaired, making the road passable. Cadet Henderson, the CEO in the Ministry of Works, confirmed that the road had been opened to traffic by noon. Henderson said that the culverts that had been affected by the flood waters are the metal types that were used by Crown Agents in the mid 1980s.
“We don’t use metal culverts anymore. Those had been replaced by culverts that are made of reinforced concrete,” he said.
While the Western Highway is free of its culverts problem for the time being, Henderson confirmed that there is still water on the Northern Highway. But the waters are not affecting the flow of traffic.
“There is water near Mile 4, and there is water near Mile 7 1/2,” the Works CEO said.
(Ed. NOTE: In a dramatic call to Love FM this morning, former PUP Works Minister Fred Hunter stated that it was Crown Agents who had built that section of the Western Highway in the middle 1980’s, and that 23 culverts had been included. Hunter charged that the last PUP government had allowed Arnaldo “Pappy” Peña to block two culverts in connection with a development around Mile 12. That left only 21 culverts – Hunter claimed that all 23 culverts had been vitally necessary, and that the collapses today were the result of the tampering with the original road construction.)