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Roadway Rehabilitation (COMPLETED)
Port Antonio, Jamaica
 
Project Cost
$4,500
 
Funds Needed
$0 (Fully Funded)
 
  The EWB Atlanta Chapter is working on a project with the Naylor’s Hill Community in Port Antonio, Jamaica. Naylor’s Hill is a community of about 150 households and 500 people who live in the mountains approximately one-and-one-half miles south from the City of Port Antonio, capital of the parish of Portland in Jamaica. The community’s only road, actually more of a dirt foot path, gets repeatedly washed out by rainstorms, which occur frequently in Jamaica. When the road washes out, children can’t get to school, individuals who are sick can’t get to the local hospital, and residents can’t do simple things such as go to work or get food and supplies. The citizens are constantly repairing and rebuilding the road after every storm, and the poor road condition has also prevented certain utilities and services from being delivered to the community, such as light poles, firefighting, and garbage service.  The community and a Peace Corps volunteer, the local non-government agency (NGO), approached EWB Atlanta in 2006 for help in designing a road that would address surface erosion and runoff, funding for implementation, and oversight of the implementation.
 
The Need 
Naylor's Hill was landlocked until the year 2000; bordered by a public hospital to the west, a stream and private land to the east, government owned land to the south, and homes/businesses to the north. At that time the community organization, Naylor's Hill United Club, acquired a strip of land from a private owner whose property bordered the hill. The community cleared the existing road, and although the road is wide enough for approximately one vehicle, it is mostly composed of clay and rock, is deeply rutted, and extremely steep, with grades of up to 30%. Therefore, no vehicles can travel the road currently and is only used for foot traffic.  
 
The lack of a functioning road also prevents public services such as fire fighting equipment and garbage trucks from reaching the community. In 2006, a community member's house caught on fire, and the citizens had to let the house burn down, because fire trucks could not reach the house. The deceased and ill must also be carried by hand down to the hospital. The local power company has also not built any street lights on the road, because of its condition, making the road very dangerous to walk on at night.
 
During rainstorms, which occur frequently in Jamaica, the clay soil, rocky surface, and inadequate drainage makes pedestrian travel dangerous for the elderly, handicapped, and children. As a result, most citizens cannot attend school or go to work, the market, or the hospital during and after a rainstorm. The community has made attempts to improve the roadway through manual clearing and grading the road. They organize community work days where men and women from the community come together to hand-grade the road and make stone drainage channels; however, the roadway is steep and continually washes-out under the frequent heavy rains typical of Port Antonio. Attempts by the community to address the drainage problem quickly fail with heavy rains, and residents do not have the necessary knowledge and resources to create a sustainable method for addressing runoff.

 

 

The EWB-Atlanta Response
Assessment
EWB-Atlanta traveled to Naylor's Hill in May 2007 and completed an on-site assessment. During the assessment, team members surveyed the existing road and gathered the necessary data and information to develop an engineering design. Team members also met with Portland Parish government entities, such as the Road and Works Department, the Mayor's Office, the Water Commission, the Portland Environment and Protection Association, and the Social Development Commission to coordinate and communicate the proposed road project. Team members also met with the local hospital and medical clinic and interviewed community members in order to conduct a health assessment of the community. 

 

Solution
The goal for this project is to engineer a roadway rehabilitation design that will address the stormwater drainage issues and provide a sustainable road that the community can maintain and utilize. This will include grading, leveling, a drainage system, and retaining walls where needed.  Various design alternatives were investigated, and "tack and rock" design was chosen. For more details on this design, please see project info below. 

 

Project Completion 
As of October 2010, this project has been completed.  The worst sections of the road were stabilized by the construction of robust drainage ditches.  These roadway sections were also covered with more stable surfacing materials.  Details and photos of the final construction are forethcoming.

EWB-Atlanta will continue to provide consulting services to the community until 2016.

Project Info

 

Interested in participating or learning more about this project? Please contact our Project Manager, Marc Simmons, at mtsimmons@pbsj.com. 

 

 

Road Design

The chosen design will be a “tack and rock” roadway with earthen drainage and the associated grading required. Tack and rock is a simple design that involves placing a layer of tack (a tar-based binding agent) onto the sub-grade, and then a layer of rock, and then compaction. This design will be the simplest and cheapest design to implement and can be repaired easily – just fill the road with more tack and rock. This design will require more labor from the community, but will instill ownership and a sense of pride and accomplishment.

 

 

 

For more information on design drawings, drainage, and other project information, please visit the Jamaica Project Team's Yahoo! Groups site.

 

 

Construction Cost Estimate 

The Jamaica Project's construction cost estimate consists of costs for road materials - Granular Aggregate Base (GAB), stone surface course, tack, and for drainage materials - rip-rap, reinforced concrete pipe, and concrete for drainage. Equipment consists of grading tools, heating equipment, equipment rental (grader), and safety equipment. Travel is estimated to occur over 3 visits and cover airfare, lodging, and meals.

 

 

Phase I Site Assessment 

The initial site assessment for the project occurred in May 2007 and involved 7 team members representing 6 companies: AIG, Arcadis, CH2M HILL, Jordan, Jones, & Goulging, NOVA, and PBS&J. The site assessment involved team members surveying the existing road and gathering data and information for the design, meeting with Portland Parish government agencies, and conducting a health assessment of the community. Information on the site assessment can be found in the Naylor's Hill Phase I Site Assessment Report.

 

 

 

Additional Project Resources

 

    The Jamaica Project Team has formed a Yahoo! Groups project page. The site is used to communicate and share documents and information among team members. The group is free to join and only requires a Yahoo! account (free).

 

 

   Read about our Jamaica project in the February 2008 issue of The Georgia Engineer magazine. 

 

 

Additional photos of the May 2007 Jamaica site assessment trip can be found here.