A WHILE back, last year or the year before, a man called VOB’s Down to Brass Tacks to complain.
The moderator allowed him to make his complaint, thanked him and that was that. His complaint has weighed on my mind ever since.
The gentleman stated that the Ministry of Transport and Works (MTW) road crews fixing the ABC Highway did not know what they were doing and should be sent overseas to be trained properly.
Yes, the MTW road crews do a poor job when fixing roads including the ABC Highway. Drive from Vaucluse to Hopewell or through Jack In the Box Gully, and you see potholes filled in with blacktop, and then flattened unevenly by cars, which then become bumps.
The same with the ABC highway. However, it is not the fault of the road crews. They have the wrong tools to carry out the jobs. When one takes one’s car to the auto body repairman, with the correct tools, that repairman makes the car new all over again.
If the MTW road crews were given the proper tools, I have no doubt that they would do a fantastic job.
When the MTW road crew works on the ABC Highway, they proceed to cut out a square around the depression in the road, dig out the blacktop – erroneously called “barbergreen” in this country and they replace it with new hot blacktop.
They then use a compacting vibrator. I have seen then using a jumping jack compactor which results in an uneven surface but more often using a wacker which also results in an uneven surface.
What should be used is a compacting roller in order to obtain a level surface.MTW work crews should be given the correct tools or the jobs should go to private contractors.
NICHOLAS WARD
