THE main access road in the community of Speightland in Mackenzie, is benefiting from a massive upgrade and residents are expressing their satisfaction, despite the works being temporarily halted as a result of the inclement weather conditions.
The farming community is located aback of the old aluminum plant and residents have been suffering tremendously as a result of the deplorable state of the road.

It is being constructed to the tune of $7.1 M by Associates Construction Company. One of the company’s managers, Ronal Lewis, told the media that everything is in place for completion, and asphalting will commence as soon as the rainy weather has passed.

While public transportation does not ply Speightland’s route, residents expressed how difficult it was to even convince taxi drivers to transport them, since they often complain about traversing the huge pot holes and ungraded slushy road.

Resident Shonette Fiedtkou expressed to this publication her daily trials having to convince taxi drivers to transport her. “It was a struggle and I, along with other residents, are finally happy that the road is being done. We are now looking forward for it to finish, [and] we are happy that it was placed on the budget and it was considered,’ Feidtkou said.

Associates Construction Company was also awarded the contract to complete massive repairs to Amelia’s Ward Main Street. Residents of Cinderella City have longed complained of the stress of also engaging drivers to ply their route. Hence, they were forced to walk a long distance to access transportation.

In addition to the Amelia’s Ward main street, other roads that will be done are Toucan Drive main road, River Side Drive road, Stanley Road in the Wismar Hill Primary School area; the ballfield road; the teachers’ compound main access road; and the post office road in Wismar. Out of the $3.4B budget, $322.5M has been allocated for public infrastructure in Region 10. Regional Executive Officer, Orrin Gordon, said that 21 regional projects have been awarded, while 18 tenders are open and waiting to be awarded.

Asphalt plant to push for road development
With a portable asphalt plant available in Linden that is currently being assembled at the Christianburg area, road construction in Linden in 2018 is expected to be expedited. The plant is fully automatic and computerized and is being powered by a low emission generator and will produce one hundred and sixty tonnes of asphalt per hour. With asphalt being available right in Linden, the cost of roadworks is expected to be lower and therefore surplus funds can be used to construct and repair more roads.