The pace of pothole repairing and road paving will increase in the coming months, the Minister of Public Works told the House of Assembly yesterday.

Lieutenant-Colonel David Burch said that since materials were now available from the East End Asphalt plant, interim measures to address the road issues would include an acceleration of repairs to potholes reported to potholes@gov.bm.

He said roadworks would recommence at Watford Bridge, the Collector’s Hill and South Road junction, South Shore Road at Henry VIII and Harrington Sound Road through Middle Road.

Colonel Burch apologised to the public on the state of the roads and said that Belco trenching works on Middle Road had been put on hold until April 2024.

He said the company planned to restart that month with “pull hole” works on Middle Road in Warwick, from Camp Hill to Belmont. He anticipated that these works would be completed by June.

Colonel Burch committed to keeping the public informed of the works.

“It makes no sense to pave this portion of roads until all the pull holes are completed,” he said.

Colonel Burch told the House that there would be “no more digging up of the roadways” at Hamilton Parish, St David’s and St George’s to accommodate works associated with Phase 1 of the Government’s Water and Wastewater Masterplan.

He said that the new East End Water Facilities were operational and the remaining installed pipes were almost ready for commissioning. He said there would be no excavation works in St David’s and St George’s associated with this project.

“That, however, does not mean that if an underground pipe failure occurs, that ministry staff or contractors will not repair the issues. It simply means, there will not be hundreds of feet in road excavating occurring at once,” he noted.

Permanent asphalting of the roads in the affected areas has already begun, Colonel Burch said. In some areas, works have been completed.

He said plans were afoot to pave Middle Road in Flatts and North Shore Road to Stone Hill as well as Middle Road in Warwick from Belmont to Camp Hill.

Beyond these works, asphalt works could include Stokes Point Road down to Mullet Bay Road in St George’s, and onward to York Street.

The public works minister told the House that “excessive amounts” of rain in 2023 as well as the unreliability of the asphalting assets owned by the Government and the private sector had contributed to the present state of the roads.

“Like most other construction projects, asphalting relies on two things — adequate assets to help get the job done and good weather,” he said.

“Over the past few years, especially in 2023, the Government has not been afforded either of those,” he added.

Last year, the island recorded 77.37 inches of rain, the most since 1902, according to the Bermuda Weather Service.

Colonel Burch noted that while the ministry grappled with an excessive number of potholes attributed to the weather and lack of investment in the years past, the asphalt producer in the private sector could not provide enough of the needed material.

This, he said, had led to asphalting teams being forced to manually fix holes.

“When using bagged asphalt, multiple bags are needed to fill one pothole. The asphalt teams with short supply of bagged asphalt could only accomplish a few potholes in a day,” he added.

He said East End Asphalt was back up and running but he acknowledged that the ministry’s plant was still inoperable. He said that this week technical officers had met representatives from a vendor to “solidify production availability to recommence large paving works.”

Last December, the minister informed the House that the Government was in the process of purchasing a new asphalt plant through negotiations with Astec Industries, a provider of asphalt plants and equipment in the United States.

On Friday, he said the Government would shortly consider the details of purchasing a new plant and replacement asphalt equipment from the company. Funding for the venture has been made available in the Budget.

Colonel Burch said representatives of the company had travelled to the island last December to observe “the process and operation of equipment". He said the company had offered training for asphalt teams at the company’s headquarters in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Last month, Colonel Burch said 15 staff members of the ministry had received training “on new techniques and applications to enhance the asphalt laying process”.

He said training for the team would continue on the island.