RESIDENTS living in villages along the Soesdyke-Linden Highway are allegedly breaking the curb walls of the main thoroughfare to create driveways to their homes and/
or villages. Concerned citizens recently brought this to the attention of the Guyana Chronicle since this practice can be deemed the reason for several breakages and erosion issues that are presently occurring on the highway. According to a resident, a section of the highway curb wall in the vicinity of Loo Creek was broken away by residents only a few days ago to facilitate the easy access of lumber trucks operating in that area.
The resident added that while residents are guilty of this practice, several lumber operators and truck drivers are also involved. While some persons use implements to break the highway, some of the damage is as a result of the regular traversing of heavy-duty trucks. “Is a steady practice that needs to be addressed, because this resulting in the road breaking away and eroding and water gushing down into people’s yards, it causing all kinds of problems and the relevant authorities need to see what’s going on and put a stop into it,” the resident who asked not to be named, said.
The resident reminisced that several recent accidents recently at Yarrowkabra and Kairuni were as a result of the breakage. “December ya coulda get nuff nuff fatalities on the highway, but thank God nothing serious ain’t happen, but nuff man run into the big hole deh had up Yarrowkabra.”

While these eroded sections were temporarily repaired, the Ministry of Public Infrastructure is currently repairing breakages at Kuru Kuru, according to Chief Works Officer Geoffrey Vaughn. He told the Guyana Chronicle on Monday that the ministry is aware of other breakages, but will be investigating same before awarding small contracts for repairs. When asked about the damaging of the curb walls by residents, Vaughn said that his ministry was not aware of the situation, but will be looking into it urgently. “I will have to address that,” he said.
Last December, while the Region 10 Works Committee was inspecting breakages at Kairuni, Yarrowkabra, Moblissa, Amelia’s Ward and Kara Kara, Region 10 Chairman Renis Morian made a call for the placement of road signs on the highway so as to notify truck drivers on the dangers and consequences of removing the curb walls to construct access driveways. “Once the curb wall is moved the water is running down there, there is need for signs on the road saying to truck drivers that they should not break the curb and once they want a driveway, they need to contact Ministry of Public Infrastructure so that an engineer can come and help them make the driveway; and when they are putting stuff on the road to make the driveway, they are redirecting the water that should be running in a particular direction and that is also causing breakage on the road,” the regional chairman posited. If truck drivers disobey the signs, Morian suggests that they be prosecuted as the highway is the government’s property.
The Region 10 Road Safety Organisation took a different approach in suggesting that logs be transported by river, so as to save the only thoroughfare connecting Region Four to Region 10 and several other interior regions. The visiting team, while inspecting the eroded areas, pointed out that several sections of the foundation of the highway are void and the situation was described as life-threatening. Morian suggests that a walkthrough of the entire highway be done by the Ministry of Public Infrastructure so as to ascertain the weak points. “So first thing I would recommend here is that the ministry do a walk-through survey, look at the stress points and threatening areas so that they can do corrective work,” he stated. One civil engineer explained that the condition of the highway will deteriorate as a result of its void foundation and with the continuous pressure from vehicular traffic — especially the heavy-duty trucks plying the Georgetown to interior locations — the surface of the highway may soon cave in. Morian revealed that there is significant funding in the 2017 budget for extensive repairs to be done to the Soesdyke-Linden Highway.