Dominica : Good Hope Road open for vehicular traffic

The government of Dominica on Monday provided an update on the development of the "Good Hope Road Project". As per reports, the project is near completion, and the route is already open to vehicular traffic.The road will be paved and lighted; and, upon completion, will significantly improve access to and from San Sauveur and Petite Soufriere.The road was closed following a landslide in 1986, which swept away agricultural holdings, damaged the primary school and covered the health clinic, seriously injuring the community nurse and killing her ten-year-old daughter.The Good Hope Landslide in 1986By the evening of November 11, 1986, the community and surrounding area had experienced heavy rainfall for many days.Nearly 17,000 cubic metres of soil and worn rock slipped from the hillslope above the Castle Bruce-Petit Soufriere road just after 3 a.m. on November 12, 1986. On the hillslope, banana, coconut, and bay trees were carried away. Citrus trees and vegetable crops growing beneath the road were damaged by the quickly moving slide mass. The slide swamped the health clinic near the s1ope's base, wounding a nurse and killing her ten-year-old daughter in their sleeping quarters. The impact of the slide pushed the primary school partially off its foundation, destroyed the back wall, and buried the upslope side to the roofline many metres downslope. The toe of the slide dropped material 1 to 4 metres deep along a 15-meter section of the main street through Good Hope when the rubble came to rest. The higher slide mass obstructed a 90-meter portion of the Castle Bruce-Petite Soufriere road on the slope above.