A 1.2-kilometre stretch of the George Price Highway near Old Belize will be left unpaved for about a year while engineers test a geocell system meant to fix a long-running ground settlement problem.
Chief Engineer Evondale Moody of the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Housing (MIDH) says the section between Burton Canal and Old Belize has been plagued by consolidation, where the ground sinks under the road. The black platforms motorists have seen spread across the road are the geocells, which are filled with material to strengthen the road base and reduce future settlement.
“That is a section that we’ve mentioned over and over that has consolidation,” Moody said. “And so what we’re trying there is what is called a geocell, whereby we’re filling some cells with material to try and minimise the consolidation process.”
After the geocells are installed, the section will be left to consolidate for a year, and engineers will then see how it performs. Until then, it will not be paved.
“We’re not going to pave that section at this point in time,” Moody said. “We’re just gonna leave it with gravel material and then have traffic run over it.”
A bridge is also planned in the same area. Moody said the existing culvert at Old Belize, which links the lagoon to the sea, is under capacity and will be replaced with a bridge. Building it will require a traffic diversion at that location so vehicles can move in both directions.
