Highway request for Marley
published: Sunday | April 30, 2006

- CONTRIBUTED
RIGHT: Bob Marley in performance.

Teino Evans and Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writers

BOB MARLEY'S statement "dem ago tiad fi see me face" at the beginning of Bad Card has been proven true over and over again, as his picture is everywhere from stamps to street art to magazine covers and all over the information superhighway of the Internet.

However, if one Marley advocate has his way, the Gong's tough name will be officially ingrained into smooth tarmac of a highway that all can see and certainly get a smooth ride on.

Ras Astor Black, who recently convened the first induction into the Reggae Walk of Fame, has proposed just that for the highway being built along Jamaica's north coast, parts of which are already complete. And, coincidentally enough, construction is now going on in St. Ann, where Marley was born, with rapid development taking place along the stretch from the capital, St. Ann's Bay,through to Runaway Bay, communities through which his Nine Miles birthplace can be accessed.

And as Marley did sing "life is one big road with lots of signs" in Wake Up and Live, it would be a comfortable fit if there were lots of signs along the stretch of road from Negril to Port Antonio with his name.

"The Hon. Robert Nesta 'Bob' Marley worked tirelessly in spreading reggae music and the message of Rastafari worldwide. Through his work, he gave the world profound and beautiful music and at the same time, promoting our island home, Jamaica, and we are proposing and asking that the Northern Coastal Highway be named the Bob Marley Highway to give the respect and gratitude in his honour," stated Black in a release.

APPROVAL

Black says he is seeking approval from the National Works Agency (NWA) and Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, and that he has had positive feedback from other business persons.

"All the hoteliers that I've spoken to and other persons love the idea, they are all for the idea. I wrote to Mr. Malcolm (NWA) but they haven't responded as yet, and I also wrote to the Office of the Prime Minister," Black said.

Desmond Malcolm, project director for the North Coast Highway Improvement Project, said the naming of highways in Jamaica is not the job of the NWA, but the responsibility of Cabinet, Parliament and even the people of Jamaica.

"Mr. Black needs to take that up with the local representatives, parish council, and I'm sure it would have to go to Cabinet and the Parliament of Jamaica," he said.

NO LETTER

Malcolm says he has not yet seen a letter from Mr. Black, but informed The Sunday Gleaner that sections of the new highway have already been named. "Segment one, I think sections of it from Negril to Montego Bay, several sections have already been named after persons who served in government, and segment two (Montego Bay to Ocho Rios), nothing is being contemplated as yet as that highway has not yet been completed. There is also a segment three, that will run from Ocho Rios to Port Antonio," Malcolm said.

Several major roads in Jamaica are named after politicians, among them Michael Manley Boulevard which connects Windward Road with downtown Kingston along the coast, the Ken Jones Highway in Portland and the Winston Jones Highway going up the steep incline to access Mandeville, Manchester, from the Clarendon end. Norman Manley Boulevard is the main road through Negril, the tourist haven in the western end. And while the name of the roads remains the same, Portia Simpson Miller Square was established after extensive renovation work at the intersection of Hagley Park Road, Marcus Garvey Drive and Spanish Town Road in lower St. Andrew.

MANY TO BENEFIT

Black, however, maintains that many will stand to benefit from naming the Northern Coastal Highway the Bob Marley Highway. "It will give all of us a marketable address to do business on the Bob Marley Highway, visitors will want us to give them tours on the Bob Marley Highway, we will establish more reggae attractions along the Bob Marley Highway, more of us will see entrepreneurial ideas resulting in a rise in employment on the Bob Marley Highway, and we will see our own Jamaican brothers and sisters exploring and learning more about our reggae culture on the Bob Marley Highway," he said.

The idea of tours along a Bob Marley Highway would be the reverse of his mid-1970s treks to do concerts across Europe that were edited and collected on the 1978 album Babylon By Bus.

There is, however, a road already named after Bob Marley, one that no buses full of tourists roll down, as Bob Marley Boulevard runs through Cooreville Gardens on the western edge of the capital. He is in good company, as many other roads in the community, built in 1976, are named after other outstanding figures in Jamaican music.

OLD ENTERTAINERS

"They were named after old entertainers. You have Bob Marley Boulevard, Bob Marley Way, Ken Boothe Close, Chosen Few Avenue, Rita Pathway, Ms. Lou Close, Wailers Avenue, Maytals Crescent, Gaylads Avenue and others," said Shaun Dennis, who has lived in Cooreville for over 18 years.

"I guess it's in honour of their outstanding work in music and contribution to the building of reggae music. If you notice, many of these names are foundation," he said.

Then there is precedent for renaming a road for, if not an entertainer, then certainly a very influential studio whose name is almost synonymous with a noted producer. Brentford Road in Kingston was renamed Studio One Boulevard on Friday, April 30, 2004, for the famous studio operated at number 13 by Clement 'Sir Coxsone' Dodd since 1963. Studio One is widely accepted as having primary position in Jamaica's music history, with Dodd being its father figure.

FORMALITIES

In an earlier interview with Mayor Desmond McKenzie, he told The Gleaner that "The resolution to change it from Brentford Road to Studio One Boulevard was taken by the previous council, not by my council. All that we are doing is carrying out the formalities and the formal function."

Whether or not there will ever be a Bob Marley Highway remains to be seen, but if there is it would be one more triumph in true "dem a go tiad fe see me face" style by a man who once complained in Rebel Music Three O'Clock Roadblock: "Why can't we roam, this open country/Oh why can't we be what we want to be/We want to be free/Three o'clock, roadblock/ ... And I have to throw away my little herb stock."