Mandela Highway upgrading project 89% complete

The National Works Agency (NWA) is reporting that upgrading work on Mandela Highway, which spans St Andrew and St Catherine, is 89 per cent complete.

The US$64 million Mandela Highway Realignment and Reconstruction project involves road construction works comprising extensive soft soil treatment, construction of a 3.5km six-lane corridor with a two-lane overpass bridge, two new three-lane bridges at Fresh River, a two-lane service road adjacent to the main roadway to facilitate the development of Caymanas Estate, and upgrading of the Six Miles Interchange.

Senior communications and customer services officer at the NWA Ramona Lawson said that a significant portion of the work has been completed.

"We have completed the Fresh River Bridge. We have completed the overpass bridge, except for pavement works and the erection of safety nets. We have paved about 3.2 of 3.5 kilometres of the eastbound carriage way that is between the east-west off-ramp to Tom Cringle," she said.

"We have paved a section of the service road as well - about 500 metres - and we have paved three kilometres of the westbound carriage way from the railway crossing up to the Fresh River Bridge.

She noted that by the end of the month, additional pavement work would be carried out "all the way up to Tom Cringle, at which time we will be able to direct westbound traffic on to the westbound carriageway".

FIRST QUARTER OF 2019

Lawson said that the project's next major engagement is the construction of the overpass bridge, which is near completion.

"There are other things that have to be done in order to have that bridge put into service, and that is currently being done, in terms of the construction of a Q-ramp and a P-ramp," she said.

The ramps will carry motorists up on to the overpass from the eastbound and westbound carriageways, while the service road will serve the community of Ferry, where establishments such as the police station, the Hydel Group of Schools, and gas company IGL are located.

The ramp on the westbound lane going to Spanish Town is about 90 per cent complete. Work on the Q Ramp is 30 per cent complete, with immediate works concentrated on mechanically stabilising the earth.

The NWA will also be installing a reinforced box culvert over the Duhaney River. This will be installed in the vicinity of Six Miles, where Spanish Town Road segues into Mandela Highway.

Lawson said that the project completion deadline has been rescheduled for the first quarter of 2019.