Bogue Highway 60% Through

No. 46 Wednesday, January 27, 2010
The reconstruction of the Bogue Highway has received much attention and anticipation, as well as, speculative remarks from persons within the western region regarding the procedure taken in its completion and the date of completion itself.
   Ms. Janel Ricketts, Community Relation Officer of NWA for the Western Region, in an interview said, “The Segment 1A of the Northern Coastal Highway improvement Project (NCHIP) or Bogue Road will be completed in March of this year including the bridges in Hanover, that are almost finished and also the rehabilitation of the Fairfield Road leading up to Granville’s intersection. We are on a deadline and we aim to keep it.” Further more, Ms. Rickketts also added that, the highway is approximately 60% completed.

   Since construction, problems like lengthy traffic delays and dust are experienced day to day on the highway by commuters passing along its rough dusty terrain. This give rise in persons being unsure as to if the contractors on the highway are clear on what to do when it comes to effectively managing traffic.
   Persons argue that the frequent raw material that is laid out on the road and later dug up, and that the contractors seems to chose building the four lanes at the same time instead of just finishing one side first then do the other, caused much bother and stall for them.
   The NWA, however, stated that this is to effectively establish the proper drainage system for the highway and dust control is being maintained by water trucks brought on the highway.
   The NWA, who began work on the highway construction in April of last year, aims to create a four way lanes corridor by widening the two lanes corridor which over the years, has contributed to frequent traffic congestion that resulted in a number of problems, such as, the lost of man hours for businesses, students late arrival to school, loss of millions of dollars in tourism in ways of cruise ship sales and flight delays.
   The project which cost J$1.4 billion dollars begins 300 meters west of the Readings intersection and extends 300 meters west of the Fairfield intersection. It also entails the reconstruction of 1.5 kilometers of roadway infrastructure parallel to the highway from the West Green Round-a- bout along the Fairfield Highway and reaching to the Granville intersection. The improving of the intersection design and drainage system and the allocation of six bridges located between the town of Green Island and Sandy Bay in Hanover are part of the major project.
   According to the NWA, Segment 1A forms part of the Greater Montego Bay Traffic Plan. This involves the recently completed Rose Hall development (Segment 2A of the NCHIP), and the new Traffic Management system that is implemented for downtown Montego Bay.