Many motorists and other persons appear to take for granted the constant upkeep of Anguilla’s roads by casual maintenance workers at the Department of Infrastructure.
But, for these workers, it is a labour of love despite their weekly pay packets. They endure the blistering sun, the busy traffic and the ignoring of their work by road users, yet they toil on repairing potholes and smoothing rough areas of the roads for the comfort of drivers and pedestrians.
Commenting on their work, the Minister of Infrastructure, Mr. Curtis Richardson, had this to say:
“The guys who do the maintenance work on the roads are very important. It is a very important part of the roads programme –especially now that we have the John T. Memorial Cycle Race coming up. As you know, the gravels are not the best for the cyclists so we are trying to get the smoothing of the roads done ahead of the race. I am hoping that if persons see any area …needing to be patched, that they can call in to report it.
“I already had calls from some people in South Hill and The Valley, so the maintenance workers will go there to do the patching work as much as they could.”
Asked about the budget for road maintenance, the Minister replied: “It varies in any given year. For 2019 we put in 100,000 dollars, and we have also installed some reflectors in the middle of the road from The Valley all the way down into Blowing Point and West End. The reflectors are to help some of our night drivers to know exactly where the middle of the road is.”
