Commuters traveling along Saddle Road in Maraval, Trinidad, faced unexpected navigation challenges on Thursday, when a nearly 3-foot-wide pothole began forcing pressurized water several feet into the air, creating a major road hazard that slowed travel through the area. Situated just past the popular Monique’s Guest House, the unstable crater has forced drivers to approach the stretch with extreme caution, with many coming to a full stop to yield to oncoming traffic before maneuvering around the damage to avoid costly tire and undercarriage repairs to their vehicles. When local newspaper Trinidad Express visited the troubled site Thursday afternoon, the water spout remained active, drawing the attention of frustrated commuters and long-time local residents.
Local residents confirm this is not a new problem: the combination of burst water infrastructure and worsening pothole damage has plagued the corridor for months, with repeated failed repair attempts. Taniel Davis, a Maraval resident who lives just a short distance from the damaged stretch of road, explained that crews from the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) have patched the site multiple times, but the issue keeps reemerging shortly after work is completed. According to Davis, the patch jobs fail to hold up under the weight of regular heavy goods vehicle traffic, which repeatedly ruptures the underlying water main and creates a new pothole each time. “WASA would fix it, but anytime a heavy truck drives over it, the main would burst again and then another hole develops,” Davis told the Express. A local employee who works near the site echoed Davis’ frustration, confirming the hazard has been growing worse for months with no permanent resolution.
The dangerous state of Saddle Road has also become a point of political friction, with opposition MP Colm Imbert, who represents the Diego Martin North-East constituency that includes the road, publicly calling out the current national government over its failure to address the issue. In a post to his official X (formerly Twitter) account, Imbert said he has been raising alarms over the “atrocious condition” of Saddle Road with the sitting administration for more than a year, noting that both unaddressed potholes and WASA water leaks have been left unattended for months. During an opposition press conference held the same day the water-gushing pothole was reported, Imbert doubled down on his criticism, labeling the hole a dangerous “crater” and also highlighting separate complaints of overgrown vegetation reaching six feet high in parts of his constituency. Imbert added that the scale of the hazard was unprecedented, noting he had never seen a problem this bad in the 45 years he has represented the area.
In response to requests for comment from the Express, Public Utilities Minister Barry Padarath acknowledged the issue Thursday. While Padarath said he had not yet seen Imbert’s public social media post about the pothole, he pledged to immediately reach out directly to WASA leadership to alert the agency to the hazard and coordinate a response.