WITH JUST two days before Prime Minister P.J. Patterson officially opens the Bushy Park to Mandela segment of Highway 2000, the developers of the highway have virtually completed work on the project.
Dr. Wayne Reid, managing director of the National Road Operating and Constructing Company (NROCC) said yesterday that the roadway was virtually complete except for minor finishing work. He said the last layer of asphalt had been laid and the workmen were putting in studs (in the vicinity of) Bernard Lodge and painting the dividing lines in the road.
Trevor Jackson, managing director of TransJamaican Highway (TJH), the concessionaires of the highway, said the work was progressing "very well" and should be completed by Wednesday.
Yesterday workmen toiled non-stop through sun and outbursts of showers near the Mandela end, erecting signs and completing landscaping and dressing works. At the Bushy Park end another group of workmen complete work on a section of the highway where the new 6 segment joins with the existing 14-kilometre stretch at the Bushy Park interchange. As a result, motorists were barred from exiting at the Bushy Park interchange and traffic limited to single lane immediately coming through the Vineyards toll plaza. Motorists had to exit at the Spanish Town round-a-bout to facilitate the work being done.
MULTIBILLION-DOLLAR PROJECT
The Bushy Park to Mandela segment, which forms part of phase one of the multibillion-dollar project, is about 22 kilometres and stretches from Bushy Park to the Mandela Highway in St. Catherine. This is connected to the existing 14-kilometre stretch leading to Sandy Bay, Clarendon, providing 26 kilometres unobstructed roadway between the two parishes and soon Kingston via the Portmore segment which is expected to be completed in January 2006. The Bushy Park to Mandela segment was constructed at a cost of US$71 million.
Motorists currently pays between $50 and $160, depending on the type of vehicle, to traverse the Bushy Park to Sandy Bay segment of the highway. Robert Pickersgill, the minister of transport and works, is expected to disclose the amount motorists will be charged to use the highway with the addition of the new segment at a press conference today.
