Ross Sheil, Staff Reporter

'It is typical on a Friday evening for it to take up to an hour and a half or two to get from Montego Bay Freeport to, say, Rose Hall … '

St. James police are expecting better traffic conditions at next year's Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival following the gridlock experienced Friday night which led Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller to abandon her car and walk back to her hotel.

Assistant Commissioner Clifford Blake, who is in charge of Area One, said the gridlock was as a result of the typical "Friday evening traffic blues" exacerbated by the increased level of traffic, ongoing roadworks, ill-disciplined drivers and a broken down articulated lorry.

ACP Blake rebutted suggestions that the police could have better managed the traffic and enabled the Prime Minister to leave speedily. He contended that next year parking inside the venue should be better organised, and drivers only allowed to leave in an orderly fashion.

"It is typical on a Friday evening for it to take up to an hour and a half or two to get from Montego Bay Freeport to, say, Rose Hall," he said.

ROAD EXPANSION

He added that work to widen the road from Kingston to Montego Bay to four lanes - expected to be completed before the next festival under the Highway 2000 project - and the benefit of experience would ensure smoother traffic flow.

Living up to her energetic image as the minister with responsibility for sports, Mrs. Simpson Miller, who had earlier appeared on stage, opted to leave her car behind after it became stranded in traffic outside the venue. She then walked the approximately three miles from the Rose Hall venue to her accommodation at the Half Moon Hotel.

On the way, she stopped to speak and pose for photographs with members of the public who were also caught up in congestion that lasted for four hours and deterred a reported 4,000 customers from attending the closing event on Saturday.

Festival organiser Walter Elmore, of Turn Key Productions, apolo-gised to customers for the congestion, but expressed optimism that the road widening would alleviate any traffic problems at next year's event.

ross.sheil@gleanerjm.com