Sinanan: Collapsed Mosquito Creek road no danger to commuters

WORKS and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan has said a part of the South Trunk Road poses no threat to commuters or the integrity of the northbound and southbound roadways at Mosquito Creek.

This part of the road collapsed on January 2.

He made this statement on Tuesday, while responding to a question from Opposition Senator Wade Mark in the Senate.

The roadway along Mosquito Creek comprises approximately 2.4 kilometres of northbound and 2.4 kilometres of southbound carriageways. They form part of the Solomon Hochoy Highway Extension project from Golconda to Point Fortin

Sinanan said, "Approximately two kilometres of the southbound carriageway has been successfully opened to traffic since 2019."

He explained, "Within the ongoing construction zone of the 2.4 km northbound carriage way, (at) a location 180 metres (inside this area), (a) failure zone has occurred."

Sinanan told senators this particular zone is not complete and not open to traffic. Against this background, the collapsed portion of the road will not affect the existing traffic flow at Mosquito Creek.

He added, "It does not pose any immediate threat to vehicular traffic on the road users on the South Trunk Road."

Similar assurances were given by the National Infrastructure Development Company (Nidco) in a statement on January 23. Nidco said the exact cause of the instability was being investigated and its consulting engineer AECOM will develop designs to undertake repairs to the failed area so as to prevent any disruption to traffic.