MOTORISTS can expect minor traffic changes in the Half-Way-Tree area when the state-of-the-art Transportation Centre currently under construction is completed later this year.

The centre is expected to be completed by the end of October.

Leo McEwan, public relations officer at the Ministry of Housing, Transportation and Works, told the Observer that South Odeon Avenue – which is in the vicinity of the Public Broadcasting Corporation of Jamaica (PBCJ) -will be reopened, while the traffic flow along North Odeon Avenue will remain as is. Derrymore Road, which was converted into a oneway street, will also remain that way.

Traffic was re-routed in 2005 from South Odeon Avenue to North Odeon Avenue in Half-Way-Tree to facilitate the construction of the city’s new transport centre. The bus stops were also relocated to accommodate the traffic changes.

Former Prime Minister P J Patterson broke ground for the centre in March 2005 for the Transport Centre, which is being financed through a US$71.3-million (J$4.38 billion) concessionary loan from the Government of Belgium.

The centre – which should have been completed in time for the March 11 start of Cricket World Cup 2007 – is expected to centralise terminal stops and dispatch for all buses entering the Half-Way-Tree area. Last year, Stefaan Van De Kelder, project director of Transurb Jamaica Limited, the Belgium company responsible for executing the project, said even though the project had suffered setbacks as a result of the cement shortages earlier in the year, he was pleased with the progress, and that work was still being done within schedule. He also noted that the roof of the centre would be completed by next month.

When completed, the transport centre will be able to accommodate up to 640 buses per hour – approximately 64 buses on two levels, one for incoming buses and the other for outgoing buses. It will also provide comfortable amenities for travellers, such as rest-room facilities, ticket booths, restaurants, mobile phone facilities and other commercial enterprises.

But as the infrastructure of the Transportation Centre begins to take shape, commuters have high hopes that it will make travelling less tedious.

On Tuesday, commuters waited in the blistering heat in Half-Way-Tree – the hub for transportation – for buses and taxis that would take them to their various destinations.

Shanelle McLeo, a third form student at Meadowbrook High School, told the Observer that she believes the transport centre will make a difference.

“Sometimes it is very inconvenient just waiting on the bus for so long in the sun,” said McLeo.

Another commuter, Michelle Blake, noted that the new transport centre will free up the traffic as the bus system will be more organised.

“I hope it will free up the traffic so that the taxi them won’t tek so long fi come,” she said. “Sometime the police harass them out here, and them nuh have no where fi go.”

Meanwhile, other commuters said they are hoping that the transportation centre will have a positive impact on the punctuality of the buses.

“Me hope that when it open, the wait won’t be so long because sometime the bus make me late for work,” one commuter said.