Road improvement project to ease traffic congestion at Priory

The multibillion-dollar North Coast Highway Improvement Project, for which the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation is currently doing a feasibility study, is expected to ease the severe traffic congestion at Priory in St Ann, one of the major areas of concern for motorists using that section of the roadway.

The project will see the road from Montego Bay, St James, to Mammee Bay, St Ann, expanded to four lanes, meaning that the nightmarish traffic woes affecting the resort town of Ocho Rios will not be addressed by the project that is set to cost up to $120 billion.

The Dunn’s River stretch, where Pearly Beach is located and which was partially blamed for the recent gridlock in Ocho Rios, will also not be affected by the project.

However, the newly created congested area along the Drax Hall stretch, where several new businesses have sprung up, resulting in traffic cops having to be deployed on a regular basis to monitor traffic flow, should also benefit from the expanded roadway.

Details about the project, such as the timeline, have not been released, but Stephen Edwards, managing director for National Road Operating and Constructing Company Ltd (NROCC), which will have responsibility for the project, confirmed in an interview with The Gleaner that the entire stretch of road from Montego Bay to Mammee Bay will be expanded to four lanes, including the Priory road.

“For the North Coast Highway Improvement Project, which would be the improvement from Montego Bay all the way back to Mammee Bay, what is being worked on is an expansion from two lanes to four lanes, with some interchanges along the way,” Edwards said.

And motorists can breathe easily with the confirmation that the upgraded highway will not be equipped with toll booths.

After it was announced that NROCC would be in charge of the new roadway, concerns were raised by some motorists over whether toll booths would be erected to charge to use the new stretch.

“As far as I know there will be no toll on that stretch, but the ministry is spearheading the feasibility study,” Edwards revealed.

In the meantime, motorists using the Priory main road could see an ease in congestion even before the highway is expanded, with plans by the National Works Agency (NWA) to adjust the sequencing of the lights, according to Chief Executive Officer E.G. Hunter.

“We’re looking at the sequencing of the traffic light at Priory, to see to what extent we can increase the green time on the highway part,” Hunter said.

He added: “As to whether that will solve that problem once and for all, it’s kind of doubtful because based on what we’ve seen, commercial activity in the vicinity of that light does contribute significantly to the congestion. We will play our part, but we do not pretend that our intervention is the sole intervention that is required.”

Mayor of St Ann’s Bay Sydney Stewart revealed that plans that have been in the pipeline for several years to relocate the St Ann Infirmary, which is located just metres from the traffic lights at Priory, will now be hastened with the announcement of plans to widen the roadway.

“The roadway expansion, in my view, will take in some of the infirmary land, but even without the expansion of the roadway, we are pursuing the discussion for lands to relocate the infirmary and, of course, the municipal building,” Stewart stated.

The mayor said lands have been identified and the municipal corporation is in dialogue with the owner to acquire same.