One more step on highway to Point Fortin

A four-kilometre segment of the San Fernando to Point Fortin highway is now open.

It's an incremental completion of the highway project which was the subject of protests and contractor issues that eventually led to the stalling of the project.

The Works and Transport Minister, Rohan Sinanan last week lauded the extension, which he boasted would make travel between San Fernando and Point Fortin 30 minutes shorter and described the next section of the long-delayed highway, running from Grant's Road to a new La Brea interchange, as being 98 per cent complete.

His ministry hopes to complete the highway – which take drivers from San Fernando to the Dunlop Roundabout in Point Fortin, the unofficial marker of entry to the township – by September 30.

That seems optimistic, given that there are gas line diversions in the construction project to be addressed. If that deadline isn't achieved, it will be another hiccup in the recent history of the effort to complete the troubled project.

On November 2020, the re-engineered bypass of the troubled Mosquito Creek section of the road that meandered south of San Fernando failed. This stretch of road was constantly plagued by flooding by seawater at high-tide from one side and swamp water on the other, sometimes covering the roadway entirely. The new joyride crumbled in January 2022, when the recently completed highway began to crack and crumble like failed cake. The collapse, which project management company NIDCO described as an "instability," has been the subject of a geotechnical investigation that was expected to be complete by May 2022.

Despite freedom of information filings by activist Edward Moodie and polite requests from the Association of Professional Engineers (APETT) to have the results disclosed, there has been no public communication on the findings of the probe. At least, the technical investigation into the Mosquito Creek collapse has begun.

The Commission of Enquiry into the overall project, convened in 2019, is yet to deliberate on the many questions that remain unanswered over its turbulent history. The highway extension is unquestionably an important change in the relationship between San Fernando and Point Fortin, which normally takes almost 90 minutes along circuitous roads that are often in unacceptable condition.

Turning the journey between the two south destinations into a smooth 20-minute trip will dramatically improve the business and commuting relationship between them.

In the enthusiasm to realise the completion of this project, the Works and Transport Ministry should be mindful of the inconveniences and expense that have characterised this project and exercise appropriate due diligence in its inspection of these road packages before they are opened for public use.