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The disappointment in the downtown area was palpable yesterday when the long awaited hot mix paving never happened. The contractor explained that it was a mechanical failure at the mixing plant, but a city that’s been waiting in vain for this since March wasn’t happy with one more disappointment. So this morning when it still hadn’t started those weary groans of discontent were audible when we went into downtown. But soon enough, those grumblings would be drowned out by the hiss of hot mix pouring unto the pavement. We were there as promised, from before anything started.

Jules Vasquez Reporting,
While I spent the morning looking for alternative ways to get around Albert Street in case the hot mix never came, just after midday, we could see the hot mix truck wending its way down Orange Street. It was loaded with 50 tonnes of the vaunted hot mix asphalt and when it rounded the corner into Albert Street, its arrival seemed to allay the general public suspicion that yet another day would pass without the pavement going down. The trucks were loaded with precisely measured mixed and heated asphaltic mix, and one they arrived the paving had to go ahead. And what confirmed it as a certainty was the presence of both the senior and junior Ministers of Works. The industrial sweeper did its last run over and then what’s called a tac coat of bitumen was laid down simply to make the asphalt mix stick.

Shortly after the paver operators started getting their rig all ready and by 1:30, the paver was harnessed to the loading truck and the process that been so long awaited finally began: the paver laid down the two inch thick jet black pavment which looked almost mystically powered in the shafts of sodium light. A deliverance indeed for a street that had lone been abandoned.

Evandale Moody, Consultant for Project Execution Unit
“What we have involved is that we have a bitumen distributor which distributes the top coat. Then we have a paver which places the hot mix asphalt and the most important piece of machine is the double drum roller which is used to compact the hot mix asphalt to get its proper density. The roller has water in both drums to provide better compaction so that we can get a proper density.”

Jules Vasquez,
They call it hot mix because it’s actually hot. How hot is it?

Evandale Moody,
“At this time it is about 333 degrees Fahrenheit. It was heated up to about 400 degrees Fahrenheit this morning but because of the distance where we transferred the material from Blue Creek it loses about 15 degrees per hour. We should complete by I would say about six o’clock this evening.”

Jules Vasquez,
Complete what?

Evandale Moody,
“From Belize Bank to Barrow’s law firm, that’s the distance we want to complete today.”

Jules Vasquez,
How long will it be before the street can be used?

Evandale Moody,
“I anticipate about two hours after we’re finished we can open it to traffic.”

Jules Vasquez,
So it can be opened by late tonight?

Evandale Moody,
“Eight o’clock tonight yeah.”

And so the street will be ready tonight, easing crippling congestion in the city and releasing what had become a political millstone for Works Minister Boots Martinez.

Hon. Anthony Boots Martinez, Minister of Works
“I think it is a great day for Belize, great day for the country, great day for the city. It is a well deserved transformation of Albert Street, one of the oldest street in the country, and I think it will boost and enhance the tourism scene.”

Jules Vasquez,
Now the political pressure on you has been acute. Even the pressure on me, if I walk up and down this street everybody wants to know when because I was saying it would happen from Wednesday. Do you feel some significant release today, you can freely walk up and down this street?

Hon. Anthony Boots Martinez,
“Man I have been walking up and down this street even when there was the backlash. After the setbacks and so, we started to take the lick for it and rightfully so because we are the designers and the runners of it. But I think it is a good day and it is a good day for everybody.”

And right now, the hot mix process is still going on right behind me on the two blocks between Prince and South Streets. Late reports are that it looks as if they will miss today’s target by a block, making it up to the corner of Albert and South Streets – one block away from the Barrow and Williams Office. Work to finish up Albert Street will continue tomorrow and then it’s over to Regent Street.

Three small notes. The engineers say the pavement will last about 8 years; not the grandiose two decades promised by politicians. Also, there’s the issue of the manholes – most of which are tonight covered by two inches of asphalt. There are 180 BTL manholes on Albert and Regent Streets and then there’s also BWSL. These were upgraded before the paving, but things changed and now the paving has covered them up. The Ministry of Works has committed to cutting access areas to the manholes after the paving, and then BTL and BWSL will raise the manholes for easy access. The Ministry expects that this should not affect the structural integrity of the pavement.