Government Information Service

Preparations to begin construction of the much talked about Roseau to Portsmouth Road Rehabilitation Project otherwise known as the West Coast Project are well on the way after the official ground breaking ceremony on Friday, 26th February, 2010 held at the hard courts at Pottersville outside the St. Alphonsus Catholic Church. The ceremony was attended by members of Cabinet, members of the Diplomatic Corps, the Mayor of Roseau, His Lordship Cecil Joseph among others.

In delivering an overview of the project, Senior Engineer in the Ministry of Public Works, Energy and Ports, Ericson Lewis said that work on the project began as far back as July of 2007 when an official survey team from China visited Dominica.

“As early of July 2007, the official survey team represented by Hernan Provincial, Communications, Planning, Survey and Design Institute visited the Commonwealth of Dominica to undertake a detailed study of this road. Following subsequent visit by the design team in July of 2008, a draft final design was received in January of 2009 for review. Public and private sector engineers and other stakeholders undertook a detailed review of this draft proposal and approval was given in March of 2009 accepting the design with allowance for further discussions on areas of significant interest.”

Senior Engineer in the Ministry
of Public Works, Energy
and Ports, Ericson Lewis

The project will entail the following but not limited to:

• Rehabilitation of some 45.115 km of main road from Hanover Street in Roseau to Borough’s Square in Portsmouth.
• The construction of a 66.94m long by 10.5m wide two-lane bridge including sidewalks from Hanover Street to Elliot Avenue
• The construction of a large boxed culvert structure and re-alignment of the existing s-bend at Woodbridge Bay with a much improved alignment
• Shifting of the existing road under the Canefield Cliff further westward towards the existing sea defence wall
• Re-alignment of the s-bend approaching the village of Tarreau from the south with a much improved straighter alignment
• Construction of over 1.6km of sea-defence protections at Tarreau and Coulibistrie
• Construction of a new large boxed-culvert on approaching Picard to reinstate this failed section of road.

Excavation works will be undertaken along the route to ensure improved line of sight, road width and safety. The entire road section will see significant improvements in drainage structures with replacement of several culvert structures and side drains.

Commemoration plaque

Road safety will be significantly improved with the placement of over five thousand and forty-five metres (5045m) of guard rails and replacement of damaged railings along existing bridges. The entire section of this road will receive a fifty millimetres (50mm) or two inch (2 in) asphaltic concrete driveable surface flowing improvements to the existing sub-base and base structures. The new width of this road will vary from six to 7 metres (6-7m) with an approximate one metre (1m) verge and wider hard shoulders where possible. Road markings and signage will be much improved with the erection and placement of over two hundred and sixty-nine (269) road signs and markings.

Delivering an address at the ground breaking ceremony, Ambassador for the People’s Republic of China, His Excellency Deng Boqing, told the gathering that this project, part of the four-pillar project, takes the friendly relations between Dominica and China one step higher to the next level and that it will change the landscape of transportation along the west coast of Dominica.

More on this story can be found under the features section.