St James police to seek support to address traffic snarls along Elegant Corridor

MONTEGO BAY, St James — Head of the St James Police Division, Senior Superintendent Eron Samuels has revealed that cops will be seeking additional support to address traffic congestion along the Rose Hall stretch of roadway. The congestion comes as work continues on the $67.5-billion Western Water Resilience Project, with sections of the roadway blocked off as Vinci Construction works to install metres of cast-iron pipeline. The disruption has led to daily traffic snarls, particularly during peak hours, as commuters try to enter and leave Montego Bay via its primary eastern route where work is now ongoing on the Elegant Corridor. "We are making representation to get some additional support," Samuels told the regular monthly meeting of the St James Municipal Corporation on Thursday. "That pipe laying has caused tremendous delays in the traffic leading as far back up to Rose Hall," he said. Samuels explained that while he could transfer staff at his disposal within the division, doing so would not be in the best interest of the city at present. "Based on what we have now, we would have to pull from the town centre in order to really manage the traffic out there. We are trying to avoid that because then we would have a gridlock in the town," he explained. The first phase of the programme involves the installation and replacement of two main transmission pipelines. One of these pipelines will run from the Martha Brae Water Treatment Plant in Trelawny to the Terminal Reservoir in St James, while the other will run from the Great River Water Treatment Plant in St James to Negril in Westmoreland. Currently, work is focused on the first leg, from Martha Brae to the Terminal Reservoir, and has been causing significant headaches for commuters. "Now it wasn't that bad before school started and at the start of school but now that things are in high gear and they are moving closer to the metropolitan areas, we are realising that it will and continues to impact the traffic significantly," Samuels said. While acknowledging that the police will be seeking additional support, he said they would also be engaging the contractors to determine what could be done to ease the congestion. "We are in dialogue with Vinci to see how they can better it more concisely do the construction or layout so it doesn't lead to this significant distress that motorists are now facing," he said. He also indicated that the situation could ease as the work moves closer to the Ironshore area. "Based on what we are seeing, the bypass road will be open in conjunction to when they get closer to that side, so there will be areas for persons to escape the traffic and even see better traffic flows and assist the airport in not having any delays," he stated However, while the senior officer outlined the plans to address the issue, he also called on motorists to play their part. "What we are looking at is to see how best we can ask residents to follow the instructions of the flagmen and also that of the police working," he said. "The traffic will flow if persons are disciplined and follow the instructions," he added. He said drivers who overtake and try to merge just as the dual lane becomes a single lane only serve to slow the traffic for everyone. "You have persons who will come down on the right lane and try to bore in at the top stay in line," he said.