Weather & Heavy Duty Trucks Wreck Trio Road; MIDH Responds

The roads in southern Belize have also needed to be upgraded and the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Housing has been trying to keep up with not only the heavy rains but resurfacing the roads quickly enough and in time for smaller vehicles to reach from point A to point B. But the constant rains and use by heavy-duty trucks transporting landfill and gravel or bananas have not helped the condition of the road. So on Monday, the first day of school, the bus that takes teachers to the school in Trio Village, Toledo could not pass. That forced the closure of classes for the past two days in that village, but today Chief Engineer Lennox Bradley assured that they have been out redoing the road’s surface and that by Wednesday, students and teachers will be able to have classes.

Lennox Bradley, Chief Engineer, MIDH

Lennox Bradley

“We do have those heavy trucks bringing out produce and the weather condition has not been helpful. We do have resources to try improve the roads in the entire Toledo District because if you recall, we had eleven roads that were in terrible condition the latter part of last year. We had three point five million dollars committed towards that. We engaged contractors, various contractors to be out there. Those contractors are still out there because the weather is not cooperating with us. Every little dry break that we have, they try to keep the roads accessible; similarly with the Trio road. The weather condition and the continued use of the Trio Road has brought it to where it is. We have about two sections in particular along that village road. The first section is about a quarter mile in from the Southern Highway that is really terrible. Then we have another section closer to the village. That’s roughly about four hundred metres. The first section is about two hundred metres and in between of course you do have potholes because of the continued usage. We started mobilizing equipment from yesterday and those equipment are still out there. Certainly by tomorrow we should have that road fully accessible. We are going at it with everything that we have. In fact, we have invited the private sector – the private contractors – to join us to try to bring that road under control.”