Sunbury residents hold second day of road blockades over failing Clarendon NW routes

CLARENDON — Residents of the Sunbury area, close to Spalding, have sealed off roads for two days in a row to press for repairs to badly deteriorated thoroughfares in northwest Clarendon.

On Monday, police were sent in to break up obstructions built from abandoned vehicles, fallen trees and other debris so vehicles could reach the community again.

A new barrier went up on Tuesday, drawing officers back for another clearing operation while locals stood firm on their call for elected leaders to act on the state of the road network. A community bus was also used to shut off part of the route.

Member of Parliament for Clarendon North Western Richard Azan, when reached on Tuesday, said he is fully aware of how poor the surfaces are for people in the area.

“We just came out of the budget, and the only thing we heard about is that the Government is going to do a patching programme…I don’t know of any funding available for that section of road up to now,” said Azan.

“We have many roads in north west Clarendon that are in a terrible condition, and it is not just about north west Clarendon….We are having a similar problem right across the island with the condition of the roads, bad roads. I know that Members of Parliament right across the island from both sides are having issues with road conditions,” he added.