updated: Tuesday February 22nd. 1.04pm
The Government of Belize has inaugurated the new Roaring Creek Bridge and the rehabilitation of the roadway along the portion west of the junction of the Hummingbird Hwy. and the George Price Hwy. ( formally: Western Hwy.)
The entire project was code-named ‘The George Price Highway Rehabilitation Project’ and includes the new Roaring Creek Bridge and 21 miles or (32 kilometers) of highway, west to Santa Elena Town.
Readers may remember the floods of late 2020 when Hurricane’s ETA & IOTA caused massive flooding in the entire western part of the country. The flooding mitigation works are a continuous work-in-progress to tackle future rains and Climate-Change related weather that will affect the country.
The improvements along the highway ranges from new waiting shelters for bus-passengers, to new culverts and flood mitigation land management, to new truck pull-off points, and making some curves in the roadway less prone to accidents.
The construction of the new Roaring Creek Bridge and improvements along that stretch of road was started during the previous administration, and the $17-million (Bz$) project was financed by the European Union and the IDB. Construction was done by Belizean construction companies under the guidance of a UK engineering firm.
In most countries, large infrastructure projects are the primary employers in urban and rural communities, and is a mechanism to mitigate crime among young men.
Heading westward past the Agricultural Fair-Grounds which is at the junction of the Humming-Bird Highway and the George Price Highway, the widening of the roadway and improvements to the bus-stops and other improvements are remarkably visible to those who have recently traveled that way.
Just a few years ago, a drive out west was a bumpy-ride, but now it is a much better journey to drive to tourist destinations and ancient Maya site such as Xunantunich, or to the farmlands of that area, from Valley-of-Peace to Spanish Lookout or a weekend trip to San Ignacio.
The transportation of everything is done on the arteries of a country (ie: the roads, streets and bridges; and when those arteries are good, it improves every facet of life, and business becomes more robust. Because when the infrastructure is in disrepair and of poor quality, everything moves slower, less efficient, less frequent and cost more.
Because as everyone knows by now: “Every form of Development and improvement requires a smooth and quality infrastructure for development to happen”.
Our only hope is that “the planning for future projects of this scale will be designed with 4 lanes. Because we must plan for huge improvements and growth. it’s best to have bigger roadways and bridges, instead of old 1-lane-each-way infrastructure”.
The most challenging infrastructure project facing the country and by effect the Department of Hydrology is “Climate-Change” and the effects of severe rain-storms and Hurricanes that can dump tons of cubic-meters of water in the highlands.
There job is “How to prevent a repetition, or at lease get better results, when planning to mitigate flooding in that region”, similar to what happened in October / November of 2020, when Hurricane ETA & IOTA severely affected Guatemala with land-slides and then western Belize got flooded. ( November 2020 News Article )
G.O.B said the ‘George Price Highway Rehabilitation Project’ has been built to ‘International Standards’ improving and ensuring connectivity between the central, northern and southern parts of the country.
Written & Compiled by: channel1Belize.com / digitalBelize,LIVE Staff writer – Tuesday, February 22nd. 2022 – channel1belize@gmail.com