Lucea bypass, harbour dredging on mayor’s 2020 wish list
Published:Monday | January 6, 2020 | 12:27 AMBryan Miller/Gleaner Writer
Western Bureau:
Lucea Mayor Sheridan Samuels has listed the creation of a bypass to ease traffic congestion in the Hanover capital and improvement works for the Lucea Harbour among several development plans for which he will be advocating during 2020.
In an interview with The Gleaner, Samuels said it was high time something is done to tackle the traffic congestion choking the town of Lucea.
“I have been crying all along about the traffic management within the town of Lucea itself, and it is of serious concern now. It is over two kilometres of backup, and the town itself is so congested that it is taking persons at least two to three hours to get in and out of the town,” said Samuels.
The mayor made reference to plans announced last year by Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett for the creation of a bypass for the seaside town. However, not much has happened since then.
“To really pass through the town from Montego Bay to Negril is taking about two hours, and the same applies in the other direction,” said Samuels.
“The situation is even worse in the rainy season, because the Lucea East River usually overflows its banks and causes a flooding of the entrance road to the town, and so a bypass is definitely needed as it relates to that,” Samuels added.
In addition, the mayor suggested that proper dredging of the Lucea Harbour could make the location an economically viable entity. The harbour has identified as one of the best-sheltered harbours in the Caribbean.
“The harbour of Lucea needs to be dredged because the town itself is below sea level, and as such, it is difficult to have proper drainwater run-off. One of my aims for 2020 is to try and see how best we can get the assistance from central government to remedy that situation,” said Samuels.