BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, March 13, 2024 (SKNIS) – Prime Minister, the Honourable Dr. Terrance Drew, visited the construction site in St. Peter’s where heavy equipment operators are already carrying out significant work as part of the Rehabilitation of the St. Peter’s Main Road and F. T. Williams Highway East Project.
The comprehensive road rehabilitation project entails resurfacing the road beginning at the roundabout by the R. L. Bradshaw International Airport along the F. T. Williams Highway, passing the Shadwell round-a-bout to New Road and ending at Ogees.
Prime Minister Dr. Drew said while initial work on this capital project began a while back, he is delighted to see that the project has progressed to the point where heavy machinery has commenced operations.
“This work has been going on for over a year, but of course, the heavy equipment that we are seeing here can only come in after the designs, the engineering and all those other things would have been done. So now we are hoping to complete this road within a year and resolve the issues of the main road and access to the area of St. Peter’s,” said Dr. Drew, who is also the elected Parliamentary Representative for the area.
Alexis Hazel, Owner of Rock & Dirt Limited, the main contractor on the Rehabilitation of the St. Peter’s Main Road and F. T. Williams Highway East Project, said one of the most significant components of the project is the construction of round-a-bout.
“The reason why we are cutting back [the hillside of the road] is to open it up as much as possible because you will have four roads leading into the round-a-bout which means you need to have a big, open round-a-bout that can attract up to 30-50 cars. The reason why we are doing this is because we are not designing the road for today, we are designing it for tomorrow,” Mr. Hazel said.
He also indicated that as early as next week, work will be carried out simultaneously at multiple locations to ensure greater efficiency on the project.
“We will be going to Ogees Ghaut from Monday (March 18) to start widening [the road]. We are also going to have a crew by Bass Bakery covering the drains and so we want to keep on the projection for this project which is one year,” he said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Drew acknowledged the disruptions to traffic flow due to the construction but mentioned that he believes the public would recognise the necessity of these measures to address the road issues in St. Peters.
Also, as part of the Rehabilitation of the St. Peter’s Main Road and F. T. Williams Highway East Project, sidewalks and road safety studs, commonly referred to as cat’s eyes, will be installed, thus bringing the road up to international standards.
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