The roundabout at mile 3.5 on the Phillip Goldson Highway has been undergoing major renovation since February.
And just as that is finishing a new round of renovation - slated to last 6 months will start.
That's because now - after half of the sinking roundabout was fixed - the other half has - which was used for all traffic during the repairs - has started to sink.
The chief engineer told us more today:
Evondale Moody
"We did the first half of the roundabout earlier this year, which we recently completed. And so that has been piled. But now what we have noticed during the construction of the first half is that the second half, northbound lane, was experiencing some extreme consolidation."
"It was rapidly settling. And that is mainly due to the fact that we had to shift both lanes of traffic to be traversing in one location. And so that has expedited the settlement of the roundabout, causing us to immediately look at the second half of the roundabout for us to pile as well."
Jules Vasquez
"They have suffered long for many months with the detour, which has been a tremendous load on, especially at peak times during school hours. These people will be extremely crestfallen to hear that wait, you all just fix this side and now you all going to close the next side. So we're going back to another six months?"
Evondale Moody
"Based on our geotechnical investigations that we've done on that segment of the highway, we have determined from those investigations that we have approximately 45 feet of peak, which is just black mud, black dirt beneath the pavement surface."
"And so even though we have a pavement layer underneath, that is still consolidating quite rapidly. We're sorry that we have to create this nightmare again in terms of the traffic movement and the traffic management within that area."
"But because it's a roundabout junction, there is no other way for us to ensure that we have a smooth flow of traffic both north and southbound. We have discussed with the contractor to have a better traffic management plan in respect to the north and southbound traffic."
"So because we're only focusing on one half of the roundabout now, as soon as you exit the roundabout, both going north and south, you will tie back into the basically the main highway that you have traffic in two directions, not just on a single carriageway."
As he mentioned, the area is built on peat and requires extensive piling to stabilize the 2.5 kilometres of the highway from the roundabout to the Haulover Bridge. In works so far, they have driven 68 - sixty foot piles and three of them have disappeared.
But, stabilizing the road and roundabout is something they can deal with - what they can't deal with is a rupture to the 24 inch water main heading into the city. And that is a real risk in this round of road works. Moody explained:
Evondale Moody
"On the first half that we constructed, we were supposed to encounter the 24 -inch BWS water line that feeds the entire Belize City. We were able to miss that pipe. So that means the pipe is located in the second half."
"And so we have to be very, very careful when driving the piles now that we don't damage that pipe. And so we've been in consultation as well with the Belize Water Services technical team so that they liaise closely with the contractor and ourselves to ensure that we could protect that pipe and we could try and identify that pipe before we start installing piles."
"Just for the your record that if we do damage that pipe, the storage facility that BWS has available that they've explained to myself would only suffice Belize City for 24 hours. So we have to be very, very careful when doing this other half in an effort to minimize any damage to their infrastructure."
"That is critical for us rather than traffic management. We have to ensure that we don't damage that pipe."
Works are scheduled to commence on September 25, 2023, and last six months. Disruption of traffic flow will occur; nevertheless, the free flow of traffic will be maintained. Occasionally, traffic will be restricted to one lane or diversions as provided.
