If you haven't been up The Crawl lately you're in for a surprise.

The one-time boneshaker, potholed, patchwork road is now a billiard table smooth roadway surface.

Responsible for the transformation is the Works and Engineering highways crew, which has been working its way bit-by-bit up the road, ripping up the worn surface and replacing it with a new, improved asphalt that has been imported from Nova Scotia.

It is incredibly smooth, but has the same anti-skidding properties as the Island's older road surface asphalt.

The Crawl job isn't yet complete. The team has been reassigned for a few days to complete an "all hands on deck" finishing job at Brighton Hill with the intention the popular route leading to Lindo's in Devonshire, and connecting South Road and Middle Road, will open to traffic once again from this weekend.

Shoring up the road verges, putting in retaining walls and edging and resurfacing at Brighton Hill is now all but complete.

The quietly undertaken, yet professional work of the W&E teams may not make the headlines, but for those who notice what is going on around them, the end result is often impressive.

A clear case can be seen today in Hamilton Parish. It is not just the resurfacing of The Crawl.

Two bus shelters near Francis Patton School have been repositioned and rebuilt to improve road safety outside the primary school.

W&E Minister Derrick Burgess explained the old shelter positions meant that if two buses heading in opposite directions arrived at the same time, they severely restricted sightlines around the school and road because the buses would stop almost opposite one another.

Other bus shelters within the parish are being given a new life with roofing paint applied to inside walls to inhibit dampness and mould growth.

Painting the inside of the shelters is a new solution to solve dampness and deterioration problems.

"We had a problem with the Bermuda stone formation that we have found out after 35 years.

"Because the stone is porous it is breaking away from the joints over time. And because the stone absorbs moisture it promotes algae and mould," said Curtis Charles, W&E's acting principal highways engineer.

To combat this, some of the more worn-out shelters are being totally reconstructed with concrete block although designed to imitate the old style shelters and painted to compliment their immediate surroundings.

Old stone shelters that aren't being replaced are given a paint job with roofing paint to seal them up from rain and dampness.

On the far side of Harrington Sound a third project has been completed.

A brand new stretch of pavement has been created on a notorious section of road.

The care and attention to detail given to these projects becomes apparent on closer inspection.

Mr. Charles said: "We have a good group of guys who are talented. They just need a chance to show the public what they can do and to express their talent."

The path serves a multiple of purposes. Pedestrians who were once forced to walk on the road are now in a safer place, something the drivers of larger vehicles appreciate, according to Mr. Charles.

And the owners of properties adjoining the road are now unlikely to see their boundary walls regularly damaged by accidents or vehicles squeezing too close to the road edge.

Repairing even a short stretch of wall is expensive. Residents have ceded a strip of land to Government in return for W&E rebuilding their wall in a sturdy fashion with the ceded strip fashioned into a buffer zone walkway.

It appears a win-win all around; for road users, pedestrians and the property owner's piece of mind.

Mr. Charles would like to create more pavements around the Island if roadside property owners would cede away a strip of land in return for a new retaining wall.

The road crew like it if people notice the difference they make. Temporary traffic lights may frustrate some, but the crews are careful to schedule work outside of the peak traffic hours in the morning and evening to keep queuing to a minimum.

Minister Mr. Burgess is looking ahead to further road safety improvements, including 'amber flashing' crossings to make it easier, particularly for children and the elderly, to cross busy roads.

Rumble strips are also likely to be introduced on some dangerous road sections.

He paid tribute to the expertise and work of the department's teams, adding: "If I was having a wall built, I would want it built by the W&E department. I hope they can continue to improve things."

And of his team Mr. Charles said: "I'm really proud of what the guys do.

"They follow instructions and do their best with the resources that we are given. If we had more resources we could do even more."