The Ministry of Public Works has filled nearly 100 different potholes in 21 different areas across the island “since the start of our unusually wet first few months of summer”.
But it would cost taxpayers $100 million to resurface all of Bermuda’s roads, with roughly half of the island’s 553 kilometres of road already considered to be in “poor condition”.
The down side – the $2.9 million designated for road repairs in the Ministry’s budget would merely “put a small dent” in the amount of paving needed.
Updating MPs on the “pothole situation” on Bermuda’s roads in the Lower House on Friday, Lt Col David Burch said: “Several locations that are some of the worst areas will be addressed.”
Those areas include South Road, Southampton near Henry the 8th, Middle Road, Warwick near TN Tatem and South Road at Collectors Hill Road junction – to name a few.
“To make the Ministry’s position crystal clear to honourable members and the listening public, there now is an allocated budget of T2,927,00) devoted to new paving works for this fiscal year.”
But he said: “This is nowhere close to the substantive investment needed to repave all of our roads.
“For example, if the Government were to undertake an immediate initiative to fully repave those public and private roads that are in “poor” condition – approximately 226 km or half of our roadways – it would cost approximately $100,000,000) over a 10 year period,” said Col Burch.
“Let me repeat, that’s $10,000,000) per year for ten consecutive years – regardless of what the Government’s economic position or the Island’s macroeconomic status might be.
“This would be a quarter of the entire Ministry’s Capital Budget allocation for this year spent on just road paving alone.”
He noted that $2,027,000 has been budgeted for road works this year, and that “the Ministry is the recipient of a $900,000 carry forward from the previous fiscal year to enable more capital roadworks to be done this year”.
Moving forward, he said: “Difficult decisions must be made by a government.
“Due to this economic climate we find ourselves in today — we will continue to look at ways that we can increase funding to road paving to improve the driving experience.”
To help speed matters up, he said the Government had signed an agreement with private firm East End Asphalt to assist with the supply of materials and equipment.
The Minister also confirmed that the Government’s asphalt plant was currently not operational.
But he said it was still a “viable entity that can be repaired and kept in service”, although those repairs had been delayed.
“We had a choice this year to either put the plant down and fix it or continue paving. So we’re continuing paving but we are getting the parts to be able to fix it after this summer,” said Col Burch.
Overall, he said the estimated cost of paving a single kilometre of roadway on both lanes was $600,000 — although the majority of private roads were single lane and therefore cheaper to resurface.
The total cost to resurface all 553 kilometres of the islands roads would be more than $190 million, with public roads costing $120 million and private roads costing an additional $76 million.
“These are significant amounts of money.
“The $2,927,000 allocated this year will put but a small dent in the amount of paving we will do. There has to be a balance between competing infrastructure projects and other government priorities.”
The “exorbitant” price of asphalting material had also driven up the costs, he added.
“It costs the ministry $0.62 cents on every dollar used for road paving for this material.”
To put it in perspective, the Minister added:
1. There are 263 public roads totalling approximately 200 Km
2. There are 1,080 private roads totalling approximately 253 Km
3. The estimated price for paving just 1 kilometre (or half a mile) of roadway on both lanes is Six Hundred Thousand dollars ($600,000.00). These costs are broken down to a single major component namely the exorbitant price of Asphalting material. It currently costs the Ministry $0.62 cents on every dollar used for road paving for this material.
4. On island there is only a finite amount of paving equipment and a handful of personnel qualified to undertake the required works. All spread thinly across just two (2) large organisations – one of which is the Government.
5. Total cost to pave all public roads would be approximately $120 million
6. Total cost to pave all private roads would be approximately $76 million
“These are significant amounts of money the $2,927,000 allocated this year will put but a small dent in the amount of paving we will do,” said Col Burch.
“There has to be a balance between competing infrastructure projects and other government priorities.”
Moving forward, he said: “Difficult decisions must be made by a Government.
“Due to this economic climate we find ourselves in today – we will continue to look at ways that we can increase funding to road paving to improve the driving experience.
The Minister also stated that he was “intrinsically aware of the state of our highway infrastructure and the issues are not lost on myself or any of the technical officers within the Department of Works and Engineering”.
“As I traverse across the Island daily to undertake the roles that the people of Bermuda have entrusted me with, I physically feel every crack and crevasse on our roads,” said Col Burch.
“We receive reports every day from residents who are not satisfied with the length of time it is taking to fix the issues.
“Hearing these reports – especially those technical officers who day in and day work tirelessly to provide services to the Country – serve as an incentive to work harder to address them.
“To reiterate, the immediate pain for the motoring public will be well worth it as when completed, these current infrastructure initiatives – that is BELCO’s $250 million capital plan and our own Water and Wastewater Masterplan – which are digging up our roads; will see the protection of our fresh water supplies, protection of our electrical infrastructure and ensuring sewage is properly disposed of.”
The Minister conceded that progress was slow, compounded by a lack of staff and equipment.
“On island there is only a finite amount of paving equipment and a handful of personnel qualified to undertake the required works, all spread thinly across just two large organisations — one of which is the Government,” he said.
Recent heavy rainfall also created a surge of even more potholes.
“I have said previously, yes the state of our roads are uncomfortable but this sacrifice is well worth the wait. The Ministry of Public Works commits to getting our roadways fixed. However, we are not in the position to do everything all at once,” he added.
“I continuously thank the public for their patience with this initiative and as the overall infrastructure works conclude, we will follow with permanent asphalt paving. While not ideal, in the interim the ministry will continue to apply temporary asphalting and fix potholes.”
“And, just for clarity – if the potholes are reported to potholes@gov.bm – they will be fixed.
“As always, I will keep this House informed as we progress.”
