Robert Lalah, Staff Reporter
The Portmore leg of Highway 2000 is choked with traffic as motorists suffered long delays yesterday. The first day of the work week was affected by teething pains - including a dispute involving a cheeky motorist with 25¢ coins. More than 45,000 drivers have passed through the toll booths since Saturday. - NORMAN GRINDLEY/DEPUTY CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
THEY WERE damned if they did and even more so if they didn't!
Some residents of Portmore who decided to hold firm with plans to boycott the Portmore leg of Highway 2000 found themselves in a sticky traffic situation yesterday, facing extreme delays on the Mandela Highway, the designated alternative route.
But, it wasn't all smooth sailing on the toll road either. Confusion about T-tags and assigned lanes caused a back-up of traffic on that roadway that went on for more than a kilometre.
At six o'clock in the morning, traffic was flowing freely through the toll plaza on the highway. Nine toll booths were open to vehicles heading into Kingston and hundreds of cars, buses and trucks made good time as they passed through the plaza.
But about two hours later, things changed dramatically. There was a sudden increase in the number of vehicles on the highway. In only a few minutes, there was a line from the toll plaza that trailed back along the highway for about two kilometres.
Angry motorists honked their horns in disgust as the wait to get to the toll plaza exceeded 10 minutes.
25 CENT COINS
A spat between a policeman, toll booth operators and a man who attempted to pay the $60 toll in 25 cent coins also added to the confusion of the morning.
Highway personnel quickly opened two additional toll booths to help ease the traffic pile-up. It was about 20 minutes before the gridlock was eased.
A toll supervisor later explained that the build-up of traffic was caused by a mix-up on the part of some motorists. He said that some drivers who had T-tags (which are supposed to grant quick passage through the plaza) attached to their vehicles were actually driving into the wrong lanes. He said that when they realised that they were in the wrong lines, they had to reverse and join a line designated for T-tag users.
By nine o'clock, there was no longer a traffic jam on the toll road, but on the Mandela Highway, it was a different story. There was a very long line of traffic leading from Portmore along 'I-95'. Many motorists, some of whom said they were boycotting the toll road, used the traffic jam to justify their stance that Mandela Highway could not support the traffic coming from Portmore. But some other motorists linked the delay to a television camera crew, which was positioned at the side of the road. They said motorists were slowing down to gawk at the cameras.
About 6:00 p.m. yesterday, traffic was brought to a crawl along Marcus Garvey Drive, as motorists travelled back toward the Portmore Toll Plaza and Mandela Highway. The traffic appeared to be slowed by the recently installed traffic signals near the Tinson Pen Aerodrome, creating a pile-up that extended to Industrial Terrace. However, once past the stop lights, it was smooth sailing to the toll road.
Portmore toll users surpass expected numbers
Trevor Jackson, managing director of TransJamaican Highway, has reported that the number of vehicles which used the toll road yesterday morning surpassed the expected 8,600.
* By 10:00 o'clock yesterday morning, 10,200 vehicles had actually used the roadway.
* Minister of Information and Development, Colin Campbell, at the post-Cabinet press briefing yesterday, said 16,000 vehicles passed through the toll bridge, on Saturday.
* On Sunday, 17,000 vehicles passed through the toll bridge.
