Roads, Docks and Works Projects Underway
By Alice Bain

A number of projects are in progress at the Ministry of Works in Abaco. Mr. John Schaefer, a registered engineer, has been here on a contract with the government since 2000, soon after Hurricane Floyd.

Three more docks that were wrecked in Floyd are now being rebuilt, docks in Fox Town and Cooper"s Town and the ferry dock at Treasure Cay.

In Fox Town the whole dock pulled out of the sea bed. The new pilings will be driven in deeper, and the dock will be planked with "blow-away panels." These are sections of planking that are nailed onto a frame and then nailed loosely to the dock so that a section that would usually be fastened to the dock stringers with 30 nails is fastened with only four nails.

"Most of the "rollercoaster docks" we saw after Hurricane Floyd were caused by the planks being nailed too tightly to the dock and the surge running underneath, bringing the pilings right out of the ground," says Mr. Schaefer. "During a hurricane the storm surge will come up underneath these blow-away panels and they will rip off the frame of the dock, leaving the pilings and the dock stringers bare, which present much less resistance to the surge."

A dock with these panels may be re-paneled after a storm at a much smaller cost than driving new pilings and constructing an entire new dock. The dock at Cooper"s Town will also be constructed in this manner.

The already reconstructed Crossing Beach and Union Jack docks in Marsh Harbour incorporate this concept. The Treasure Cay ferry dock will be improved. The manmade harbour has already been dredged and cleaned up. The dock area for small boats will be reconstructed on the northeast side of the inlet rather than the southwest where it was previously. The new dock will be more protected from wave action of rough seas.

Since this dock will be constructed parallel to the side of the inlet, it will not be provided with blow-away panels since it will be much more sheltered from any storm surge. There are plans to sink pilings into the middle of the inlet to provide more efficient tie-ups for boats. The ferries will continue to use the same area as they usually do.

More of Marsh Harbour"s main intersections will be paved with hot mix, and the road by K & S that has large fractures in the surface will be ripped up and re-paved. The corner where Front Street meets Queen Elizabeth Drive (by the two-story green house) will be re-paved with hot mix. The traffic pattern will be changed slightly. Vehicles will not be able to go west on Front Street but all traffic will turn at that corner. The entrance to Front Street will be blocked off to simplify the stream of traffic. The Ministry of Works wants to create a traffic circle at the junction of Forest Drive and Crockett Drive but is waiting for BEC to move a power pole. There are still plans for the making changes at two other intersections, the "traffic light" corner and the K & S corner. The four-way stop at Don MacKay and Queen Elizabeth Drive is temporary and will eventually be replaced with a traffic light.

In Fire Road in North Abaco, a road is being paved to the south side to give access to the marls for bonefishing guides and other fishermen. Roads are being re-paved in the main settlement on Man-O-War Cay, and money has been put aside for similar projects in Hope Town and on Guana Cay.