Scale down Highway 2000 - Engineers

Contributed
A graphic comparison of JIE and Highway 2000 design proposal.

THOUGH SUPPORTING the concept of a tolled highway network, the Jamaica Institution of Engineers has recommended the scaling down of the Highway 2000 (H2K) development. The local engineers have suggested instead that portions of the 230-kilometre road be deferred for at least a decade.

They also recommend a realignment of the road ­ amendments they claim could cull $294m from the US$850m plan that Government has contracted Bouygues Travaux Publics of France to implement and operate under a 35-year concession.

H2K communications officer, Gladstone Wilson, told Builders Forum on Thursday that the team was looking at the JIE proposals and would be meeting with the engineers "shortly, for full discussion."

JIE's proposed changes include divorcing the current H2K alignment from the Mandela Highway, leaving the latter as an alternate route to the toll road to carry 'local' traffic; and repositioning the Spanish Town/Ocho Rios link to start at Innswood instead of Bushy Park, cutting 7 km off the construction of that alignment.

"It is recommended that the Government of Jamaica and the private investors involved seriously consider re-configuring phase one of the project based on the JIE approach," the engineers told a forum on September 1, organised jointly by the Farquharson Institute and the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) to look at the H2K and its potential contribution to national development.

"This would cost approximately US$270m and there would be no need for further investment in H2K for the next 10 years."

The phase one construction has already been contracted for $390m, 27 per cent of which is seeded by GOJ.

The engineers, in analysing the project documents, also questioned the traffic projections used by DBJ consultant, Dessau-Soprin, to inform the decision on lane requirements, given the stated plan to phase the toll road's development.

The lane configurations, JIE argues, were developed on the assumption that "the Mandeville to Montego Bay segment would be in place from the outset, that is throughout the entire 30-year life of the project."

Dessau-Soprin projects that in ten years traffic volume on the new 230 km highway will mount to 158,000, from a current 77,500, and in 30 years the volume would have increased to 318,000.

"If, however, the Mandeville to Montego Bay segment is not constructed from the outset, the traffic pattern changes dramatically as traffic projected to travel along this link would instead use the upgraded North Coast and Mount Rosser network," said the JIE.

The Institution argues further that traffic out of Montego Bay is likely to continue using alternate routes along the north coast, if the third segment of H2K is not constructed immediately.

Its recasted traffic projections in years 10 and 30 ­ minus the Mandeville-MoBay phase ­ are 142,000 and 282,000 vehicles respectively.

The H2K project is one of the largest and most ambitious projects to be attempted by Jamaica. The development is divided into three segments ­ Kingston to Williamsfield, Bushy Park to Ocho Rios and Williamsfield to Montego Bay ­ with the Kingston leg to be developed first by Bouygues.

The Jamaican Institute of Architects also has concerns about the traffic volumes but as it relates to the possibility of congestion when the vehicles attempt to access the towns along the highway corridor.

"Without a master plan, the resulting traffic could easily be worse than the existing," said JIA in its forum presentation.

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