A 2005 picture of the Milk River Hotel and Spa in Clarendon. - File

MAY PEN, CLARENDON:

The Milk River Bath in Clarendon is in jeopardy of facing a further decline in business.

The tourism attraction has been slowly suffering from a combination of crime in Clarendon and more recently, by the poor roads that lead to it.

So bad have the roads become that as early as 4 a.m. on Monday, residents of Milk River decided enough was enough and staged roadblocks along the road, with a view to getting some response from government.

The roadblocks, which were mounted from as far as York Town, approximately 12 miles from Milk River, disrupted operations at the Milk River Primary and the Rest Primary and Junior High as several teachers were unable to travel to school.

Inconvenience to students

The Garvey Maceo Comprehensive High was closed for the day, leaving several students who ventured past the road blocks to get to school with the only option of walking several miles back home.

"We are fed up with the bad road conditions we are forced to encounter on a daily basis over the last two years," said Terrian Chambers, a resident of Milk River.

"It is affecting everyone because taxi operators are afraid to travel this route because of the heavy overheads of replacing front-end parts caused by the poor road conditions," she added.

Councillor for the Milk River division, Carlton Bailey, was in solidarity with the residents.

"It has become unbearable for residents and taxi operators to have to encounter the bad roads on a daily basis," he said.

Travel time

The councillor told The Gleaner that it normally took 20 minutes to get to the community from May Pen, but with the roads as they were, it now took up to an hour-and-a-half.

According to Bailey, several appeals were made to the ministry with responsibility, to no avail.

The councillor said the roads have been in this condition for approximately two years.

Bailey said it was his opinion that the Milk River Bath and Hotel were in decline in large part due to bad roads.

He also said that visitors no longer travelled to the Canoe Valley and Gutts River attractions via Milk River.

The community is also suffering from neglect in other ways as the Milk River Health Centre, which lost its roof during Hurricane Dean, now serves as home to rodents, goats and other animals.

The closure of the health centre has meant that those who live in the community have to travel 12 miles to York Town.

According to Reginald Allen, communications manager in the Ministry of Transport and Works, "The challenges the residents of Milk River are facing is a general problem across all six constituencies in the parish."

"We are looking to rectify these challenges as soon as the resources become available," he explained.

Allen said road repairs had started in the parish, however the ministry was presently concentrating on areas with heavy traffic. Other areas, he said, would be fixed later.

- Dwight Nelson