By John Myers, Jr., Staff Reporter 
Minister of Transport and Works Robert Pickersgill, (left) inspects a freshly-paved section of the Bushy Park to Mandela segment of Highway 2000 during a tour of the project yesterday. Accompanying the minister are Jean-Noel Foulard, (front), head of Bouygues Jamaican operations, and Dr. Fenton Ferguson, state minister in the Transport and Works Ministry. - Norman Grindley/Staff Photographer
MINISTER OF Transport and Works Robert Pickersgill said yesterday that the 14-kilometre segment of the highway will be completed and opened in the next two weeks in time for the December 15 deadline set by Prime Minister P.J. Patterson.
Mr. Pickersgill said construction was done at a cost of US$71 million (J$4.2 billion).
"In the coming days when the Mandela to Bushy Park segment is opened, we will experience another landmark in this country's history," he said. "Not only is this project a potent response to traffic congestion, it is also addressing the issue of sustainable economic development."
The government is projected to start making returns on the project in 2012 by which time the creditors will be paid off.
HIGHWAY STUDY COMMISSIONED
In the meantime, Dr. Wayne Reid,
managing director of the National Road Operating and Constructing Company (NROCC), said a study has been commissioned to assess the impact of traffic from Highway 2000 in Kingston and St. Andrew. This, he said, is being done ahead of plans for the implementation of a revamped traffic management system to address traffic congestion in the Corporate Area.
The study, which is being carried out in conjunction with the National Works Agency (NWA), should be completed in February 2005.
"We wanted to give our motorists the benefit of using the toll road by ensuring that the outlets could absorb the traffic as they come in so we are doing a full study of Kingston to see how the network here can be improved in the short, medium and long term based on the effect of Highway 2000," said Dr. Reid.
He was speaking yesterday during a tour of the almost completed Bushy Park to Mandela Highway segment of Highway 2000. Mr. Pickersgill was also on the tour.
According to Dr. Reid, "The only thing that is left to be done is the laying of the final layer of asphalt ... what is called the wearing course."
DECEMBER 15 DEADLINE
"We expect that it will be completed three days before the 15th (of December). Everything else is in place, all the safety requirements, the medians, the fibre optic cables for the telephone have been laid, most of the telephone stations are in place," he said.
He said all the bridges have been put in place and have been fully tested by the contractor on the project, Bouygues Travaux Publics of France.
The Bushy Park to Mandela segment, which falls under Phase 1A of the US$390 million project, is about 14 kilometres long and stretches from Bushy Park, St. Catherine, to the Mandela Highway. The dualised high-speed motorway will eventually connect to the Portmore to Kingston segment, which will replace the existing causeway.
