With the 2010/2011 sugar cane season now underway, the National Works Agency (NWA) is expressing deep concerns over the way trucks are hauling sugarcane to the various factories. The NWA’s concerns are borne out of the practice by truckers of overloading the units that are transporting the cane.
According to Manager of Communication and Customer Services at the NWA, Stephen Shaw the agency is particularly concerned with the haulage of cane along the north-coast from Trelawny to Westmoreland.
Mr. Shaw says since the start of this year’s crop, overloaded trucks have rendered several signalized intersections along the north-coast inoperable, after signal heads and wires were either knocked out of place or torn down.
Traffic signals are placed a minimum of 18 feet above the roadways in order to allow for easy clearance by vehicles carrying the legal load limits.
Mr. Shaw says not only is the practice of loading the trucks far beyond their normal height proving costly to the signalized intersections, but also impacting negatively the drainage systems along the traversed corridors. Sugarcane often becomes loose during transportation to the factories and fall from the trucks. These are then crushed by other vehicles and then end up in waterways, after a shower of rain.
Mr. Shaw says the NWA is seeking the assistance of the police and the operators of the various sugar factories to assist in getting operators of these haulage trucks to comply with the loading rules.
