Pothole pain - Motorists pay hefty bills as repairs keep returning

Ruel Hudson is a jack of all trades. He also sometimes operates as a taxi driver, using his Subaru Imprezza to earn an income. That work comes at a steep cost.

A regular visitor to his mechanic in Spanish Town, Hudson estimates that he spends upwards of $50,000 every two weeks repairing damage to his vehicle, much of it caused by Jamaica’s deteriorating road network.

Even as he welcomes the recent road improvements, he said it cannot erase the financial pain inflicted by years of driving on battered roads.

“Every road in Kingston, St Andrew and St Catherine where I drive is very bad. Very, very, bad. I have to buy front-end parts; CV joints damage. Something break off today, you weld it back and drop in another pothole and it break again. Trust me, every minute I go to the garage,” he told The Sunday Gleaner last week.

“When its not tyre burst, is rim damage. Tyres costs thousands of dollars. Sometimes I am driving with four patched tires and a patched spare, because I cant afford to do everything at once,” said a frustrated and fed-up Hudson.

Now that roads are being patched, he said his frustration has eased somewhat.

“I can’t do all my fixes as fast as I want because if I don’t have the money. I have to wait till I get money from doing construction or carpentry work. Although the potholes are fixed, because the road is bumpy, it still puts pressure on your] front end. You still have a problem because of the unevenness of the road, but it’s better when the pothole is fixed. But as little rain, they all come back,” Hudson said.

“But it shouldn’t cost you so much to get a little joy,” he said.

Hudson’s experience is replicated tens of thousands of times across Jamaica, particularly in the Corporate Area, where rough, uneven roads remain a daily reality despite the Government’s extensive patching programme. Some of the repairs address damage that predates Hurricane Beryl in 2024, while others respond to the devastation left by Hurricane Melissa in 2025.

Across Kingston and St Andrew, roads bear the visible scars of repeated repairs – some providing smoother rides, others already showing signs of deterioration.

Pothole memory

Hudson’s frustration mirrors that of many motorists who argue that Jamaica’s approach to road repairs reflects the proverb about insanity – doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result.

Some minibus operators – among the most criticised for indiscipline on the nation’s roads – argue that the policy has become an “eat-a-food road works” programme, describing repeating patch-erode-patch-erode cycle as a deliberate mechanism to “rob taxpayers over and over again”.

For Shanice Lewis, a public-sector worker who drives a 2006 Nissan X-Trail, navigating Jamaica’s roads has become an exercise in memory.

A single mother, Lewis said she has developed what she calls a “pothole memory”, particularly during periods of rainfall.

“Driving on Jamaica’s roads has become increasingly stressful because of the many potholes and sinking sections. I have memorised where most of the potholes are, and often change my route or slow down to avoid them all in an effort to reduce wear and tear on my vehicle. The cost of replacing just one tyre is $15,000. Front-end repairs range from $30,000 to $50,000 and I go to the mechanic almost every month to fix something,” she told The Sunday Gleaner.

The financial burden, she said, is becoming increasingly difficult to bear amid the rising cost of living.

“These [repairs] place a heavy burden on me. Better road maintenance would improve safety, reduce vehicle damage and ease the financial strain on hardworking Jamaicans,” she told reasoned.

One engineer, who requested anonymity, said that “in many instances, but especially with the patching, it lacks any evidence of the input of road engineers” – professionals responsible for the design, construction and maintenance of road and transportation infrastructure.

An examination of several roads last week revealed a mix of successes and failures regarding the ongoing programme, with stretches offering exceptionally smooth rides, others showing the rapid return of potholes, and some posing obvious dangers to motorists and pedestrians alike.

Overhaul provides smooth rides

One of the best examples of successful road rehabilitation was found on Antrim Road in Vineyard Town.

The short journey was smooth, steady and uninterrupted. While it was unclear when the road surface was relaid, the debris-removal process appeared incomplete, providing the only blemish on what was otherwise excellent work.

The project went beyond resurfacing. It also levelled the roadway, producing one of the smoothest driving experiences encountered during The Sunday Gleaner’s assessment.

On Collie Smith Drive, where half of the dual carriageway has been resurfaced and work on the other section drags on several months later, potholes have already started to emerge along the completed side.

The otherwise smooth ride abruptly ends just below the Third Street intersection, where motorists travelling towards Spanish Town Road encounter a cluster of potholes. One measured approximately four-and-a-half inches deep and about 26 inches in diameter.

Named after Jamaican and West Indies cricketer Collie Smith, the roadway is undergoing major rehabilitation, including the replacement of ageing underground asbestos sewer pipes to reduce the need for future excavation.

One taxi operator, who regularly uses the route, said sections of the project began deteriorating almost immediately after completion.

“About one month after the road was finished, it started to dig up. Then other little holes start come up, and now, the road just done, start mash-up already ... ,” he told The Sunday Gleaner. “But Collie Smith Drive has a longstanding sewerage problem. When they were doing the left lane, it seem like no sewerage work was done. The sewerage problem is from Ninth Street and before this lane done, it start to affect it,” he said.

He welcomed the ongoing work on the opposite carriageway, where sewerage improvements are now being incorporated, but questioned why the upgrades were not undertaken from the outset.

The deteriorating section has become so severe that some motorists were last week observed driving on to the sidewalk to avoid the potholes.

Once past the damaged stretch, the roadway again provides an exceptionally smooth ride until the T-junction with Spanish Town Road, where motorists must negotiate a sharp dip.

A bystander told The Sunday Gleaner that the depression has become a hazard for road users.

“People bust up dem tyres, damage rims, and some wheels just fly off off ‘cause people just drop in the hole and can’t come out,” he explained.

Last Wednesday, traffic slowed to a crawl as motorists carefully navigated the damaged section, which stretched across almost the entire lane.

In the Liguanea area, months of frustration had finally given way to smoother driving following extensive roadworks along Munroe Road and Wellington Drive.

More than a year after the rehabilitation, however, the otherwise improved roadway is again punctuated by freshly marked sections designated for excavation as the National Water Commission prepares to carry out additional work along Wellington Drive.

At least three sets of traffic cones surrounded manhole covers positioned in the middle of Munroe Road, signalling more disruption ahead.

Visually impaired resident Tyrone Lindsay welcomed the road improvements but described how the construction process left him injured.

Living with cataracts in one eye, which limits his vision, Lindsay said he has learned to memorise the locations of hazardous holes in the roadway. However, he was caught off guard by one excavation site on Wellington Drive.

Last week, members of The Sunday Gleaner team also pointed out a collapsing section of sidewalk near the intersection of Munroe Road and Old Hope Road that he had not previously noticed.

“I know the one near to Old Hope Road. I memorise it, but this new one that you have shown me, I was not aware of it. The big hole that I fell in, was probably about six feet deep and thankfully, there was no steel in it or I would have suffered more damage. I hurt my ankle as I dropped on pipes,” he revealed.

Like many other Jamaicans interviewed, Lindsay believes road users are too often expected to endure unsafe conditions while infrastructure projects drag on, even though he supports the long-term improvements.

“I am just dying for it to be over,” he said.

erica.virtue@gleanerjm.com