Four lanes, toll for Long Hill bypass

WESTERN BUREAU:

THE LONG Hill bypass in St James will be developed into a four-lane dual carriageway, the National Road Operating and Constructing Company (NROCC) revealed on Tuesday at a meeting with hoteliers in Montego Bay.

The meeting was held to provide an update on the Montego Bay Perimeter Road, including the Long Hill bypass, which is now under construction.

“One of the things we encountered with Long Hill was that we had to make a shift to avoid affecting the Rockland Bird Sanctuary (in Lethe), and that has pushed us about 500 metres towards the east into very high terrain that will require a lot of cuts. In fact, it’s almost 70 metres of cut, and that would necessitate four lanes for Long Hill,” said Errol Mortley, environmental manager at the NROCC.

“In fact, out of the 10.5km, we would have about 6 kilometres of four passing lanes,” he told tourism stakeholders at the monthly meeting of the Montego Bay Chapter of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association at Half Moon Hotel.

Mortley said the recommendation to build a four-lane bypass has come from the project’s consultant.

“The consultant advised NROCC that it would make a lot more sense if we design a four-lane road and to have it fit with the Montego Bay bypass road and include tolling facilities with it,” he explained.

According to Mortley, as part of adjustments made to the design for the Long Hill bypass, it will now end just beyond the Dr Fidel Castro Campus of Anchovy High School instead of in the vicinity of the gas station at Montpelier.

The Long Hill bypass component of the Montego Bay Perimeter Road project encompasses the construction of approximately 10.5 kilometres of rural arterial highway with climbing lanes and escape ramps where required, leading from beyond the Montpelier intersection to Temple Gallery Road.

Persons entering the Long Hill bypass from Montego Bay will gain access at the intersection where the Montego Bay bypass ends at Temple Gallery/Clarence Nelson Drive in the vicinity of Bogue Village and Montego Bay West Village Housing Estates.

There will be one toll plaza on the Montego Bay Perimeter Road, which will be located in the Irwin area.

However, based on advice from the project consultant, the NROCC says because the Long Hill section of the project will have 6 kilometres of four passing lanes, two additional toll booths would be required.

The Gleaner understands that in spite of the consultant’s recommendation, the NROCC has not yet decided whether it will build the additional toll plazas as the project design is incomplete.

albert.ferguson@gleanerjm.com