Happy Valley Road and Devon Springs Road in Devonshire have been closed until further notice so that mandatory engineering work can be carried out on the routes? structure and weak adjacent walls.

Following the death of young mother Andrea Bacari in the Bermuda College parking lot last year, when a wall on the border with the neighbouring Elbow Beach Hotel collapsed on top of her, the issue of unstable retaining walls and roads has been a concern at the Ministry of Works and Engineering.

A hotline for people to report areas they suspected of being in need of attention has highlighted over 200 cases across the Island which are, according to the Ministry, in the process of being inspected.

A portion of Happy Valley Road has been restricted to one lane-only traffic since the beginning of the year so that work on the route, undermined by natural erosion, could be completed.

However, on further examination it was recently discovered that a comprehensive structural redesign of the site was necessary before the process could begin ? with work now slated to get underway only in the New Year.

The wall beside Devon Spring Road is also in danger of collapsing as a result of natural erosion, although fixing the problem has been further delayed as the Ministry sifts through a number of ownership and liability issues.

?It is not just as simple as fixing the wall,? Works Minister Ashfield Devent said yesterday.

?There are liability issues and our biggest concern is public safety.

?Closing the roads is not something we want to do, but we must make sure that the walls do not come down and injure a member of the public.?

?We realise it is an inconvenience,? he continued.

?We do apologise, but we hope the public will bear with us until we can get these walls repaired and the roads reinforced.?

Resources at the Ministry have been stretched following the havoc wreaked by Hurricane Fabian and as yet, no indication has been given as to when the roads will reopen.