CHAOS in Spanish Town yesterday forced the National Works Agency (NWA) to modify an ambitious reversible one-way road system along the town’s by-pass to ease traffic congestion, after the plan collapsed under the weight of early morning traffic heading into the old capital.

At a hastily-arranged afternoon press conference, junior transport minister, Fenton Ferguson, announced a one-hour reduction in the one-way system and the closure of some secondary roads in Spanish Town during morning and evening rush hours to avoid a repeat of yesterday morning’s gridlock.

While the change improved the flow of traffic towards Kingston, traffic heading to Spanish Town started piling up from as early as 7:00 am yesterday, stretching about four miles from the Caymans crossing on the Mandela Highway to the heart of the old capital, as the new system kicked in.

“This is total foolishness, total madness,” said an irate motorist, Neville Grant. “It took me almost 20 minutes just to move a few yards.”

“This is not working, they should leave it as it was,” fumed Alpheus Wade.

Meanwhile, it took Alfred Kelly almost three hours from Dunrobin Avenue to the roundabout at the Jose Marti High School — a journey, he said, which took him 20 minutes prior to yesterday’s changes.

“This is just total foolishness,” he told the Observer. “This definitely needs better planning because what they are doing is just frustrating motorists, and taxi drivers like me can’t make any money.”

The changes were, however, welcomed by motorists who used the by-pass and were able to move faster.

“It is a very good move, the traffic is moving so much faster,” Shalma Ellis, who was travelling from Old Harbour to Kingston, told the Observer.

“It’s a wonderful change which should have been implemented years ago,” added Nadine Haye.

But for another motorist, Patrick Pearce, his hope was for a better system today so that his children can reach school on time and not almost two hours late as they did yesterday.

“It can’t work like this, my youths need to reach school on time,” he said.

Ferguson, who said the changes allowed faster movement of traffic on the by-pass onto the Mandela Highway, told reporters yesterday that the system will now operate between the hours of 6:00 am and 8:00 am, rather than 6:00 am and 9:00 am as originally planned.

“A one-way system will be in effect between Barrett Street and Oxford Road between 6:00 and 8:00 in the mornings,” Ferguson said.” What this means is that there will be two lanes of traffic heading west along Bourkes Road towards Wellington Street.”

This, he said, will be reversed between 4:00 pm and 8:00 pm, with an exception for buses operated by the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC). An additional lane will be created for the buses heading in either direction during the time the one-way system is in effect.

“There will be no access from Young Street to March Pen Road… motorists will have to make a left on Bourkes Road,” the junior minister explained, noting that this also will be reversed in the evening, which will mean that no right turn will be allowed onto Bourkes Road from Young Street.

Yesterday, the police, who felt the brunt of frustrations vented by irate motorists who hurled several expletives and derogatory remarks at them, returned the by-pass to a two-way almost 40 minutes before its scheduled time.

“This is total chaos,” said Inspector Nigel Cunningham of the police traffic division on Elletson Road, Kingston. “They (NWA) need to go back to the drawing board and find another way to solve the problem.”

As a result of the pile-up, several students and adults were forced to walk for miles to get to school and work in Spanish Town. Several students attending the Jose Marti Technical, Jonathan Grant and St Catherine High schools were seen walking from as far as White Marl in Central Village.

“I can’t get any bus, so I just decide to walk,” said Krystal Gillies, a student of the Jose Marti Technical High School.

Her older sister, Barbara, who works a few miles further at SuperPlus in Spanish Town, was forced to follow suit.

“I just have to walk until I see a clearing where I can get a bus, and if not, I’ll just walk to work,” she told the Observer.

Member of parliament for Central St Catherine, Olivia “Babsy” Grange, described the changes as “premature” and suggested that the NWA completes work along the route before implementing the plan.

“You don’t solve a problem at one end and create a bigger problem at the other end… I don’t think enough thought was put into the implementation of this plan,” she told the Observer.

Meanwhile, mayor of Spanish Town, Raymoth Notice, said there was a “bit of failure” but urged the public not to be discouraged.

“It is the first morning, let us not be discouraged because we can go back to the drawing board and look at other ways of easing the congestion.

“I don’t believe in failures. I admit there are some problems, but let us work together because I am still hopeful,” he said.

Ferguson, at the same time, said the NWA would continue to assess the changes and assured that any modification needed would be done.

“I am appealing to the public not to seek to tear down what we are implementing, but to assist us in making it work,” he said. “If you know that parking in a particular place is going to impede traffic, don’t stop… we must be considerate to all motorists and other persons seeking to go about business.”