Prime Minister Andrew Holness is proposing an overhead pedestrian bridge for the Bustamante Hospital in the upgrading work that is to be undertaken on the roadwork and other infrastructural development within the vicinity.

According to Holness, he has concerns that pedestrians seeking to get to the only paediatric hospital in the English-speaking Caribbean, will be in danger when Arthur Wint Drive is expanded to a dual carriageway.

The entrance to the hospital is situated on Arthur Wint Drive and Holness said that engineers at the National Works Agency (NWA) are analysing the feasibility of having an overhead bridge.

“There will be some major infrastructure work going on along this stretch (Arthur Wint Drive). It will redevelop the entrance to the hospital, it will expand the road and signalise the entrance area,” Holness said.

“Indeed, I have said to the NWA that I am very concerned, once we have expanded the road, widen it, put in medians and so forth, for children and their parents having to cross from one side to the other side.

“I have been assured that the proper signalisation will be put in but there is something in me that says maybe we need to make the investment in a properly designed overhead bridge for the facility that will take them into the hospital, without having to contend with the traffic,” Holness continued.

He believes that while the overhead bridge should increase the cost for the work being done, the investment would reduce the risk of someone dying on the thoroughfare.

According to Holness, while the NWA has cautioned that Jamaicans are not favourable to the use of overhead bridges, the engineers will also be analysing designers to make it easier for pedestrians to traverse, should the approval is accepted.

“I have seen overhead bridges in other countries that are easily manoeuvred because they give a long walk up, so people don’t feel the climb as much. The engineers have said to me that in Jamaica people don’t like to use overhead bridges. They will run the risk of crossing.

“Maybe, it’s because of how it is designed and how steep the steps are to get up. If people had a longer run to walk up, maybe they would more likely use it, but again these matters are all a function of design,” Holness said.

He said that the plans would fall into the general development of the hospital, where ground was broken Wednesday morning for the building of an Overnight Parents Suite and a cardiac ward. A new DrugServ Pharmacy was also officially opened as well.