Robert Lalah, Staff Reporter
These residents left the comfort of public buses and decided to walk along Mandela Highway yesterday, after flooding led to traffic delays of up to five hours. - PHOTO BY ROBERT LALAH
EVER BEEN in a traffic pile up for five hours only to have to turn back in the direction you were coming from? Well that's what many motorists have been going through for the past two days while making their way along the Mandela Highway.
Like so many places across the island, sections of the highway were left under water after rains from Hurricane Wilma pounded the country almost non-stop for five days.
Policemen at the Ferry Police Station said traffic heading into Kingston started to back up along the roadway from 5 a.m. yesterday. The traffic jam was equally lengthy in the reverse direction in the evening. It now takes an average of three to four hours to travel along the highway, no matter what time of day it is.
These road rage festering conditions however show no sign of getting better any time soon, as the National Works Agency (NWA) says there is nothing it can do until the knee high water subsides.
The Prime Minister toured the area yesterday, but angry motorists complained that the tour only caused greater delays. As Mr. Patterson's convoy, which was led by policemen on bikes, drove up to and then stopped at the area where the water was at its highest level, the traffic came to a complete standstill. Angry motorists got out of their vehicles and complained that the already tedious journey was only being made worse. Mr. Patterson, however, spent very little time in the area as he said he did not want to cause additional delays.
