Million dollar boardwalk crushed by truck again
South Sound Boardwalk damaged by a truck in January 2019 (CLICK TO ENLARGE)
(CNS): For the second time in a matter of months, the costly boardwalk installed by government along the waterfront in South Sound has been crushed. The $1.3 million walkway has not even been formally opened yet but it has now been damaged twice by trucks. CNS understands that on this occasion the boardwalk was crushed by a concrete truck from the work site across the street turning in the area. Government officials have confirmed that the owners of the vehicle will be footing the bill. The boardwalk, the cost of which has been sharply public criticised, was due to be formally opened in the coming weeks but this has now been postponed.
South Sound Boardwalk damaged by a truck in January 2019 (CLICK TO ENLARGE)
The 1,500 foot boardwalk was damaged for the first time in October, when a truck ran over it, and government officials also said on that occasion that the liable party had paid. On neither occasion has government revealed the cost of repairs.
The walkway, which runs along the shore-side of South Sound Road, stretches between the public boat ramp to just east of the ‘Shoe Tree’. It was constructed by Phoenix Construction and includes a bike lane, benches, three major beach access points and parking.
Category: Local News
You fool, yunnuh…
When are they going to put proper road markings on that road? Hard to know where the lanes are. It just looks incomplete and is confusing to drive along. No wonder trucks are running into the boardwalk.
Perhaps if the drivers received a hefty ticket for leaving the scene of government property damage,then the word would get around to other drivers. The owners of those trucks paying damages alone will not deter reoccurance of the problem.
What baffles me is why they didn’t lay down brick on a dirt pad like a driveway instead of boards?
Million dollar dock? Must be Jamaican currency.
I will bet you that if there is any comment on this from the CIG side, it will come from ‘the Ministry’ or some other anonymous entity and not an individual. You see, in this World Class government thing, no one takes responsibility when shit goes down. Now break ground for a new development, and you will see a half a dozen or more all dressed up and posing for the cameras. What ghosts we chose as our leaders.
The question is, Is the police involver here? What if it was a cyclist or mother with a baby in a stroller?? This is supposed to be a safe place to walk but it looks like the SMB road is safer.
Anyone want to join me for a late-night trip to that “shoe tree” with a can of kerosene and a bbq lighter? A tree covered in stinking, rotting shoes: total eyesore, fit for the chainsaw. I hope it’s not seen as representative of our tourism sector.
I’m down. Say when
Just bring a claw hammer. Why set fire to the tree?
For effect and to make sure no more shoes are added to it.
Because it is an invasive species, and almost dead, something of an eyesore?
Invasive weed, acidifying the soil and smothering native vegetation.
Sounds like all expats
LMFAOOO preach!!
Some, but many are actually great additions. Casuarina’s not so much.
Coconut trees are also not fom here. You can say that about 2/3s of the trees you see.
This is going to happen over, and over, and over, and over, and over again. Every truck driver parks their truck by first driving onto the sidewalk, then straightening out. This is just the damage caused by absent-minded heavy equipment operators reversing. Wait until people actually start parking there.
What about taxis and buses parking on the sidewalk on North Church Street near the pedestrian crossing. That sidewalk should have been eight inches high like the one at the fish market. Note also that a wheelchair coming off that particular sidewalk then needs to go in the middle of the road thanks to Hammerheads putting three signs on the sidewalk. That is rediculous. CPA and RCIP please do something about it..
Yes the signs are contrary to the Traffic laws. Time for enforcement by the NRA and RCIP.
National Rifle Association ? I hope not. 🙂
Do the thumbs down favour wheelchairs in the middle of the road? What thick people.
Three years ago my son designed a safe sidewalk up North Church Street for several hundred yards. Only two property owners assisted and the government failed to assist as well.
Many of you will recall that in the 70/80s the government for safety reasons built the sidewalk on West Bay Road. Now they build a useless sidewalk on South Sound which is waiting for more accidents. They need get their act in order and fix North Church Street before the millions arrive by cruise ship. North Church Street is an accident waiting to happen and a resulting lawsuit against the CIG.
It’s unsafe
Some of us like the South Sound boardwalk. I am sorry you don’t.
Chris – The railings on the side walk your son designed aren’t safe either. Fix that before you have an opinion on this matter.
Well said @ 1:38!
If it is the same 3 signs I am thinking of, when they are not put out selfish pricks park cars and trucks on the pavement, over the double yellow lines, resulting in
– blocked access to the store on the road front,
– blocked access to pedestrians, prams and wheelchairs along the pavement, forcing them into the road
– creating a road hazard on what is already a treacherous T-junction with Mary Street.
I hope them campers still set up camp this year!!
Illegal
Imagine how much mangroves we could have replanted along that stretch with 1.3mil.
But that wouldn’t give one company $1.3m for something less robust than Lego. That’s not how this works. We give the money to the big businesses. And the big businesses say “that’s it?” And then we give them more. Because they’re wealth creators you see. They create so much wealth they need all of our money. Are you understanding it yet? Look, just withdraw your life savings and go and put it on the boardwalk, okay? The next truck will run over it and it’ll fall below the next planks they install. If we pour enough money into the foundation, maybe it will hold up the planks. That’s the best we can hope for.
Just wait until the next cat.5 hurricane passes south of us then we can literally watch 1.3million dollars get washed out to sea.
Great idea, always love to see the mangroves re-generated when-ever possible. But this particular short length of road right where the board-walk has been built is now about 2 feet lower than it was prior to Ivan’s passage. It can be viewed in the you-tube video posted by local photographers taken mid Sept’ o4 , with a road manhole casement totally exposed by the surge and the boat ramp parking lot under-mined and sitting 2 feet higher than the surrounding grade. I think any attempt to re-propagate mangroves here may be a short lived experiment. Could work elsewhere on South Sound, but judging by the new developments now underway, it remains to be seen.
What you just said only supports the need for mangroves to be replanted. The coast needs the protection. Also, there was a lovely dense fish nursery of red mangroves along there pre Ivan.
Pre Rene Hislop further to the east.
Damn foreign developers.
Ummmm, nobody governing the horrific driving……
In other news…… ?
And they’re seriously suggesting we let them sink $200-$300million into a cruise dock?
To Hell with the Dock ! Let’s put Mac B. 50 story building in first. Ya baby.
That whole stretch of South Sound is now a complete nightmare, a major accident waiting to happen and when it does the lawyers will be oh so happy.
1/ A boardwalk with no safety railings either side.
2/ Very little street lighting.
3/ New developments with ‘blindside’ walls that go straight onto a main highway.
4/ uneven road surface with no real identifiable kerbs or even adequate road markings.
All in all, a complete mess and folly by all concerned.
These things are all just fine in Absurdistan.
3:29pm, it’s “curbs”. Spell check!
Learn British English, since you are in a territory of the UK, Bobo. It’s “kerb” everywhere else but North America. If you weren’t a typical blinkered person from the US, you’d know that.
There are 10 times more of us so “with all due respect”, we “hear what you are saying” and “will bear it in mind.”
We know you wiped out most native Americans, but luckily there are still lots of Indians and they know how to spell.
But not all of them are as ignorant and poorly educated as you are.
Who cares?
Its spelled curb only in America. For the people who speak English its Kerb
Actually, “kerb” is correct – we are a UK dependent territory, remember? “Curb” is North American.
How ignorant.
Yes, yes and yes. Also varying width of road. What was the point of the planters jutting out, so cyclists in the “cycling lane” (aka the parking lane) have to swerve into the road. The whole thing is madness and a complete waste of money.
The private sector build the board walk and the private sector has destroyed it. Dont worry CIG will fix it. If Only the whacky private sector would get its act together we could reduce the cost of government
Just think how many money was spend over Xmas to stop the private sector from drinking and driving.
Public money paid a private contractor to do the work. Big difference. The boardwalks is flimsy at best and will cost a lot to maintain. I would hate to have my foot go through the boards while walking. It looks quite deep and treacherous underneath like a nasty accident waiting to happen.
you have mental problems….but i’m sure you are very happy in the civil service.
It’s unfortunate that not as ‘many money’ was spent on your education.
Maybe we could buy some sand/marl or rock and cover this dangerous boardwalk with it so that vehicles and pedestrians can operate without danger. With time nice vegetation might grow so as to provide shade and protection from flood water.
This board walk serves as a 1.3 million dollar monument to our governments incompetence. Do we really want a half a billion dollar monument of incompetence in George Town Harbor??
We are British, should be “harbour” not harbor
Build a wall!!
How and why would a board walk be built that can hold the weight of vehicular traffic?
It won’t be long and we will say yahoos parking on the board walk like they do on double yellow lines and every sidewalk pavement.
The whole project was a waste of time and money in the first place. What’s the point of walking from a boat dock at one end, to a bush at the other?
The point is to generate a construction contract for $1.3 million. Would have been better for everyone if they had just left it the way it was and gave them the money in a bag.
Is this from Vela again? Why can’t they pay minimum wage to a banksman to control traffic coming out of their construction site??
it should have been just a regular cement sidewalk.
But the contractor convinced government to let them sink a million dollars into a fancy foundation and put fake wooden planks on top. The next hurricane is going to drop this entire boardwalk on the nearest house.
Why have these silly planters jutting out into the road and reducing it’s overall width.All the plants/shrubs will shrivel and die in the next dry spell as they are never watered.
this was a waste of money to begin with smfh
the cayman islands civil service can’t go 5 minutes without humiliating themselves!
well done ppm!
do-nothing ppm, eventually does something and of course makes a total cock-up of it…
civil service incompetence and negligence at its finest…
this whole saga needs to be audited asap. cost over runs, delays and it is still not complete!
btw if this has no railing… it is a public liability and cig will suffer numerous claims… how did planning approve this?
everything about this makes no sense.
Yup. There needs to be a safety barrier on the edge of the walk, to stop vehicles running into it.
railing needs to be beach side…thats where the fall hazard is.
Like the one by the fish market that has gaps so big a Carnival cruise tourist could fall through it?
yep…. another pwd(civil service) cock-up
If you’re falling through a railing I think you’re doomed to get hurt one way or another despite any precautions.
And one on the sea side. If someone falls off and injures themselves they’ll sue govt.
Rightly so!
LOL!! I realize that those large trucks can be difficult to maneuver but how do you NOT know the boardwalk is there?????
and these clowns think they can build a dock!…..
Los Angeles County has 31 miles of beach and boardwalks – none of it is made of PVC decking (which a 2 second Google will tell you, warps badly when exposed to UV light). Much of it sits atop reclaimed bog march and peat soil. Even the sophisticated Venice Beach Skatepark Complex, that will host part of the 2028 Olympics, cost only USD$2mln in 2009. Look at Hollywood to Fort Lauderdale…anywhere you want to look…all of it cheap, smooth, and weather-resistant concrete pours.
The planks on this one are already dangerously warped and a trip hazard.
Horrible use of funds for infrastructure increases on the part of the Government. Where are the road repairs across the island, especially in west bay and north side? How about roadway expansion for the one-lane roads to have a central turning lane and decrease traffic? Clearing of road side hazards such as blind spots due to overgrown bush? These multi-million dollar aesthetic projects are bleeding the local people dry, most of whom will never even see or use these projects as they are based in high tourist areas, not local areas.
In the meantime the daily gridlock and misery to the East gets worse.
Go West!
Government spending review process in full detail:
Step 1: Dig a hole
Step 2: Buy a shovel
Step 3: Throw money in hole with shovel
Step 4: Increase fees to pay for wasted money in hole
Step 5: Repeat
2 (b) hire Celebrations to gild the 15 Ministerial photo-op shovels in 14k gold leaf.
LOL
You forgot the first step: stand holding a shovel, gurning at the camera a year before any actual construction work
Noted a slight error in my original post. You should buy the shovel first then dig the hole.
Please can we change the word money at step 3 to politicians?
Now you’re talking!
Step 4 (b): Buy replacement shovel under the table from friend at twice the price then hire same friend to take his time to pretend to fill the whole while charging CIG for work done.
What numskull committee decided on this death-trap setup, within 12 inches of an active artery road (with construction going on all around)? Can’t even skateboard or rollerblade on it!
*laughs in frustration*
Why do we keep electing these clowns?
It’s worse – there were committees of “experts” that signed off on this.
name and shame them all…
Because the world is full of ignorant people who have the right to vote. Therefore, we cannot expect a sensible outcome in an election.
This is a sign by God.. stop the damn unnecessary ‘development’ CIG!
Bad driving isn’t a sign of god. It’s a sign of bad drivers.
An ill conceived, expensive and unneeded boardwalk that enshrines a near dead invasive species of tree covered in garbage. Is this the Government’s vision of Cayman’s tourism product?
Well said Steve! Vote them all out!
Free Steve!
11:04 Designed as a ‘Tourist Product’, I think not. Cheap looking, embarrassing actually.
Curious how much it will be to fix. Might give us an idea of how much money when into someone’s pocket for nothing.
Don’t worry, CIG will find a way to make it cost another arm and a leg! They’re experts at that, you know.
Can’t fix stupidness. This thing will look like some of our roads soon with all the patches and reparations.
Just further evidence of the piss poor drivers we have operating vehicles.
Did no engineer ever ask what happens if a heavy truck drives over this before construction of the project?
Obviously not.
Cheap garbage that cost us millions! Wait until a hurricane passes by, those plastic planks will be littering the sea all over South Sound!
Heads should roll for this blatant theft from government coffers!
Cayman is starting to look like much of the carib with no upkeep of the infrastructure. You all get what you want which is a home away from your real home on another nearby island.
Expats are not in charge of infrastructure. That is totally up to government which is entirely local
And yet foreign nationals seem to dominate parts of the civil service, so …