More traffic changes for Portia Simpson Miller Square - NWA

The National Works Agency (NWA) has announced additional changes to traffic flow in the vicinity of Portia Simpson Miller Square, also known as Three Miles, in St Andrew to facilitate the launch of concrete girders, a very technical and dangerous exercise.

The concrete girders are critical components of the overpass bridges at Portia Simpson Square.

Consequently, starting tomorrow Little Bell Road will only accommodate local traffic. This means that motorists will not be able to enter this corridor from Marcus Garvey Drive, neither will they be able to exit onto Marcus Garvey Drive.

Motorists will also be unable to access some businesses from the direction of Marcus Garvey Drive. Those businesses include Derrimon Trading and Dr Glass.

Manager, Communication and Customer Services at the NWA, Stephen Shaw, says persons doing business in the vicinity of the area where the girders are being launched will be allowed to enter through the construction zone at Portia Simpson Miller Square from the direction of Hagley Park Road.

They will also be allowed to use a section of Spanish Town Road.

This set of changes is expected to last for a period of two weeks, during which time the launching of all Girders for the first span of the overhead bridges are expected to be complete.

The NWA says the girders, which are already built and are in storage near the port, are being transported to the construction site via Highway 2000 and Marcus Garvey Drive. This activity is slated to last for three months.

In order to minimise disruption, especially to vehicular traffic, the transport and launching of the girders is being done between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 12 noon as well as 2:00 pm and 4:00 pm daily. The movement of the girders, which are 100 feet in length, will result in disruption to traffic along a section of the Portmore leg of Highway 2000. It will also impact the traffic along Chesterfield Drive.

Shaw says the launching of the girders is a highly technical and dangerous exercise, which will also result in pedestrians being restricted from entering the work zone.

The work at Portia Simpson Miller Square forms part of the project to improve Hagley Park Road and is being done at a cost of US$57 million.

It is one of the government’s legacy projects being done under the Major Infrastructure Development Programme, (MIDP).

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