Experts not convinced climate change mostly to blame for Jamaica's poor road conditions

By Nakinskie Robinson   

 

Experts have come out against Prime Minister Dr. Andrew Holness's position that worsening climate conditions are mostly to be blamed for the state of the country's road network.

 

While Member of Council of the Jamaican Institution of Engineers and Specialists in Environmental and Civil Engineering, Dr. Christopher Burgess, acknowledges that climate change has an impact on the quality of roads, he says this is only a minor factor. 

 

"Increased rainfall, increased temperatures do affect the conditions of the roads, but certainly in the last nine years since the Prime Minister has been in power, the increase in temperatures of only 0.15 Celsius can only attribute maybe 1?cline in the quality of the road. And then in the context of last year with Hurricane Beryl and even just the rainfall, it was a pretty ordinary year. Even Beryl was less than a 2% to 5% return period event - nothing spectacular to damage our roads per se. So in terms of attribution, I'm going to give climate change in the context of the current road condition somewhere between 1 and 2%," said the engineer. 

 

The Prime Minister's statement had triggered a heated response from Opposition Leader Mark Golding who dismissed the comment as nonsense.

 

Dr. Burgess believes the increase in private transportation has contributed significantly to wear and tear on local roads.

 

Meanwhile, urban planning expert, Dr. Carol Archer, said there needs to be an increase in road maintenance operations. 

 

"We might have maintenance every, let's say, five years, but with the intensity as a result of climate change impact, we might have to move now and ensure that we have maintenance [more regularly] - maybe two years as opposed to five," she proposed, arguing that the government must also share its plan for dealing with the impact of climate change on roads. 

 

Dr. Archer and Dr. Burgess were both guests Thursday on the Morning Agenda on Power 106 FM.