Ministry closes North Coast Road for urgent repairs

The North Coast Road leading to the scenic Maracas Bay, Las Cuevas Bay and other villages along the north coast has been closed off to all visitors until 6 am on Monday to allow the Ministry of Works to do emergency road repairs after a portion of the road collapsed on Friday during torrential rainfall.

In a statement on Saturday the ministry said the road will be blocked from the pillars and drivers were urged to find alternative routes. The only other access to the north coast villages is via the Blanchisseuse Road which is poor condition and under threat from landslides and falling trees during heavy rainfall.

During a visit on Saturday, workmen were nailing black plastic sheets to cover bare soil in the area where half of the road collapsed to prevent it from being water-logged and collapsing even more.

The landslip on Friday happened between the Lookout and Maracas Bay near the 10km mile marker. Landslips are an almost annual site in the area, having occurred in 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022, according to past media reports.

Owing to the severity of the slippage, the Ministry of Works and Transport said North Coast Road will be closed from Saturday at 5 pm to Monday at 6 am. Only single lane traffic is possible at that point. Yellow caution tape and orange plastic barriers have been placed at that site to alert drivers.

The road has been closed except to localised traffic from the pillars on Saddle Road, Maraval to the 10 km mile marker on the North Coast Road where repairs are underway. The release advises drivers to observe all signs and barriers, obey police officers, drive at a reduced speed and to be mindful of heavy equipment in the workzone.

Friday's landslide occurred in viewing distance of the 2018 landslide restricted traffic and a bailey bridge and traffic lights had to be installed near the 11km mile marker resulting in snarling traffic to get to and from the beach.

Residents said the bridge and lights were removed shortly before the pandemic in March 2020 when repairs to the road were completed and two lanes were restored.

Contractors of the Ministry of Works were on site around 9 am and began spreading long sheets of black plastic, nailed to asphalt, and anchored with pieces of wood and boulders. The area of road slippage is about 40 feet long by 12 feet wide. Traffic, sparse as it was, was still flowing on the east bound lane.

The contractors said the plastic is being used as a preventative measure to ensure that the remaining road does not collapse. One of them said in all likelihood the remaining portion might collapse.

From their initial assessment, the contractors said water appeared to have seeped through an underground drain or culvert causing the soil to become inundated and the road ultimately collapsed.

The contractors also covered the hole in the culvert near the mountainside with cement, so the run-off will flow directly in the drain and onto the roadway, preventing further erosion at that weakest point.

Multiple residents said that they believe recent construction nearby was likely to be the culprit of the road slippage. Dane Dennison who has lived in Maracas for 34 years said about a year ago developers began cutting the land on the hill causing a trail of rubble to fall near Carissal Trace.

Dennison said if residents did not clean the drain themselves of the rubble the water would have come over the road and into his property on the opposite side of the road.

He believed the cylinders under the road became clogged with debris like grass, tree trunks and gravel and blocked the flow of water which found another course eroding the foundation of the road.

Dennison said the barricades and signage erected to warn motorists were insufficient and hoped the Ministry would fix the warning signs urgently to prevent a potentially fatal accident.]

Two tourists from French Guiana, Oona Goetghebeur and Leo Beliers La Fosse, who arrived on Friday said they noticed the landslip on the way to their Airbnb in Maracas but were unencumbered. They did not see the landslip as a problem. They were set to enjoy the beach but disappointed that the beach was deserted.

Workers at Richard's Bake and Shark in Maracas also complained about the lack of patrons on what would usually be a busy day.. Misty Garcia of La Fillette, a village just after Las Cuevas, said sales were very slow on Saturday and that she expected it to continue for the coming weeks.

Garcia said she "would be scared to go on the road because you're not sure with a next rain like yesterday, if the road will cave in itself."

She said the immediate loss, if beachgoers do not patronise the restaurant include costs of vegetables, sauces, flour and oil which will be unusable after today (Saturday) if their product is not sold.

Another worker said that if beachgoers don't come, "we don't have a salary." Garcia said that she is just hoping for the best, after coming out from the pandemic and adverse weather warning. She said for parents like herself with her job as the only source of income, "we're just getting slapped with one thing after the next."

The workers at Richard's Bake and Shark said that there were many more infrastructural issues in the area and issues relating to youth unemployment.