(Eleuthera, Bahamas) – Barriers put in place at the Glass Window have proved to be temporary indeed.

Raging waters experienced during the day on Tuesday, December 9th at the Glass Window Bridge, just north of Gregory Town, Eleuthera, proved too powerful for the ‘temporary’ concrete barriers placed just over a year ago alongside dangerous gaps in what was also a ‘temporary’ wooden barrier – damaged several years earlier by multiple storms and hurricanes.

More than half a dozen of the heavy ‘temporary’ concrete barriers, which had been shipped into Eleuthera from Grand Bahama, could be seen thrown down, as if carelessly by some unseen giant, along the embankment facing the Bight of Eleuthera – proof of nature’s awesome power.

The barricades being used, according to the manufacturer at Gold Rock in Grand Bahama are 10ft long, 2ft wide at the base, 5-6in at the  top and are 32in  tall. They are made of concrete and according to the manufacturer, who was contacted by telephone in 2013, the barriers weigh 4000 lbs each.

In October of 2013, during placement of the concrete barriers, Contractor Austin Knowles Sr. commented, while on site, that the concrete barriers placed would provide a much higher level of safety than the former temporary cat-eyed rope barrier that had been erected after multiple storm damage in 2011 and 2012 respectively.  However, he added that they were not a permanent measure, as they would still be very susceptible to the force of water typically experienced in that area of the Bridge during storm or ‘rage’ activity. This latter statement proved to be true this Tuesday December 9th, 2014.

Lasting Safety, when it matters, at this essential artery connecting North and Central Eleuthera, remains an apparently illusive aspect of the measures put in place at the bridge to-date. As this ‘rage’ has shown, there is still a pressing need for authorities to implement a well engineered longterm solution  for the motoring public in Eleuthera.

Even as messages of Bridge closure were airing on radio during the late afternoon on Tuesday, traffic moved across the bridge in both directions  passing the compromised barriers.

Heavy equipment toting large barriers, on the aged Glass Window bridge   October 2013.