–amidst extensive repairs slated for 51-year-old road

THE Soesdyke-Linden Highway is expected to be furnished with lights, and to undergo extensive repairs in 2018, according to Mayor of Linden, Carwyn Holland.
Holland said this was revealed to regional representatives by Minister of Infrastructure, David Patterson, at the installation of the Linden Electricity Company Board recently. Several calls have been made for the highway to be lit following scores of accidents during the evenings, many of which were fatal.

Holland said that Patterson revealed that the Government was looking at a $40M budget for 2018 for both lighting and repairing of the 51-year- old , 45-mile stretch of uninterrupted bituminous thoroughfare linking Region 10 to Region 4. “Next year 2018, we are hoping to see some upgrade of the Linden Soesdyke Highway and we are looking forward to the lighting of the highway, so that is a project the Ministry of Public Infrastructure is set to undertake,” Holland said on Tuesday. The Linden Mayor added that the two projects will run concurrently.

While efforts were made to place reflectors on the highway previously, this newspaper understands that several of these were stolen. Drivers plying the Linden to Georgetown route, made it a public cry of the darkness on the highway and the danger it poses of having to exclusively depend on one’s vehicle head lamps as a to guide for visibility. It is even more dangerous when the area is foggy.
Regional Councillors had labelled the road as `a veritable death trap’ since those who are not experienced to the structural faults of the highway are more susceptible to causing accidents.

Also absent on the thoroughfare are road markings and signage which can also aid drivers and other road users. One driver expressed the hope that indeed for 2018, the highway would be repaired and properly lit, since there were talks of same being done for 2017.
“I was made to understand that in the budget for 2017, money was there for repairs but I just see patching and so going on. I am hoping that for 2018, something more extensive would be done so that drivers can feel safe driving on the highway at nights, the driver said.

Linden Mayor Carwyn Holland expressed optimism that this would happen as outlined by the Minister.