Northern Highway becoming graveyard for cars
Closer to home, residents who must commute between Belize City and points north are forgiven if they view news of hurricane relief with something less than enthusiasm. I’ve given up trying to make the trip in my own vehicle, but News Five’s Jose Sanchez today spoke to many people who are still trying.
Jose Sanchez, Reporting
Everyday thousands of people enter or leave Belize City on the Northern Highway. They come and go for different reasons, but the one thing they all have in common is disdain for the state of the road around mile four.
Driver #1
“Very, very bad. They have people filling up this thing while we are passing up and down man.”
Driver #2
“I come from a village called Crooked Tree, right. I don’t live in Belize City. I don’t want to come back here, it’s not good, especially for small vehicles.”
Driver #3
“It definitely wants some dirt dumped.”
Jose Sanchez
“Do you have any complaints?”
Driver #3
“No. It’s the weather, but they should throw something “hardish” in the holes.”
While it takes some skill to maneuver through what’s left of the highway, just about everyone has an idea about what needs to be done to solve the problem.
Driver #4
“All they have to do is put rock and then sand bag it. All they have to do is go to the B.D.F and get all the soldiers, cause the soldiers do nothing, but sit on their backsides.”
Driver #5
“I think they need to put in some culverts so the water can run off.”
Driver #6
“They need to have at least two twenty-four inch culverts underneath the roads here, to carry the water from one side to the other.”
Driver #7
“I imagine it will take a lot of engineering skills to put it in a very good state again.”
While most people seem to think that small cars are the only vehicles to get stuck in the muck. It’s just not so.
Driver #8
“Well, I think it is about time they threw some filling on this road because people will forever be getting bogged on the road. There are no marks to say what part is soft and what part is hard. It happened to me a while ago.”
At present there is a team patching holes and pushing some vehicles to keep the traffic moving.
Worker, Ministry of Works
“I work for Ministry of Works.”
Jose Sanchez
“Exactly what is your job out here today?”
Worker
“Whatsoever is stuck, I just pull it. Now and then we get some hard stones and do whatsoever best we could.”
“We are just waiting for the water to go down. We can’t do anything much until the water goes down. As a matter of fact it’s something we have to live with. We try our best; night and day we are out here. So, I think people just have to take their time and understand what the procedure is. This is a disaster; all around it’s like this, not only in Belize, but all over the country. There’s no use of getting frustrated for today and tomorrow. Let’s try to live with the best of what we have.”
The chief Engineer in the Ministry of Works says that they do plan to place culverts on those areas of the Northern Highway that need it most. But until that happens, drivers who have no choice but to make the dangerous run are hoping that their vehicles can stay in one piece. Reporting for News Five, Jose Sanchez.
Late this afternoon we were informed that the ministry has put more stones on the road and the situation has improved somewhat.
