$4.4M Bridge Project Targets Failing Section of Sarteneja Road

A long-troubled stretch of the Corozal–Sarteneja Road is finally getting a major fix, with a new bridge now rising where drivers have long battled unstable terrain. Backed by a four-point-four-million-dollar grant from Taiwan, construction is already underway at mile three, an area notorious for soft soil and deep peat that have repeatedly undermined road works. The two-hundred-meter structure is being built by Overseas Engineering and Construction Company, with oversight from the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Housing. Chief Engineer Evondale Moody says work kicked off in May and is on track to wrap up by year’s end, marking a critical step toward stabilizing the roadway and improving access to Sarteneja.

 

Evondale Moody, Chief Engineer, Ministry of Development and Housing

“That project, honestly, it’s the construction of forty-two kilometers of road. Out of that forty-two kilometers, we have two hundred meters that has just disappeared. Honestly, has just disappeared. That is the worst area of settlement in the country. Worse than Philip Goldson, worse than George Price Highway. And so we have not officially opened that road because of this section. It’s like a real thorn in our side. And so we are trying to see if we could start the implementation of those works, I would say, within another month or so. We have identified funding from Taiwan. They will provide a grant funding for us to replace that two-hundred-meter section. We have filled that area over three meters high, and it has just vanished. It has just gone. We tried to implement a retaining wall section with a concrete pavement. That has gone. And so what we have to do now, which is the last option, is to pile that entire area, similar to what we did to the roundabout at Benny’s that was settling. We had to pile that. And so now that is stable because it has reached refusal. So we have to do the same thing on Sarteneja, whereby we have to pile in grid patterns two-hundred-meter section, and then put a concrete pavement on top. And those piles will reach refusal. Refusal, based on our investigation, is at eighty-five feet. Everything else in between is just mud. And so we want to reach rock, and then by, by doing that, then we will stabilize that section and then complete that, that highway. But out of forty-two kilometers, there’s only two hundred meters, which is zero point zero zero something percent that is giving us problem, and that’s the reason why we haven’t done an official opening for it, because of that issue.”

 

Commuters are advised that diversions will be in place during construction, with traffic rerouted to the San Estevan Road in Orange Walk when concrete pilings are driven.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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