MONTEGO BAY, St James –

The National Works Agency (NWA) has commenced repair work on the Bogue main road and the adjacent Fairfield main road with a view to improving traffic flow in the area ahead of the J$1.4 billion upgrade of the same area to be undertaken by contractors Surrey Paving and Aggregate Limited in January.

“We will be doing patching work on the Bogue road and more intensive work is to be done on the Fairfield main road,” said the NWA’s regional head of major projects, Horace Coterell at last Thursday’s public town meeting to discuss traffic changes ahead of next month’s billion dollar road reconstruction.

Surrey recently signed a contract to undertake the four-lane upgrading of the problem-plagued Bogue main road under segment 1a of the North Coast Highway Improvement Project.

According to the NWA, the project -scheduled to last for 12 months- will involve reconstruction of the Bogue main road to accommodate four-lane traffic from Reading to Fairfield.

A section of Long Hill as well as the Fairfield intersection, through West Green unto Howard Cooke Boulevard is also to be ungraded to accommodate four-lane traffic.

There will also be reconstruction of the Temple Gallery road, one of the entrances to the 1500-home Bogue Village housing development and the adjoining Montego Bay Industrial Estate.

Several bridges along the North Coast are also to be rehabilitated under the project.

Residents of Bogue Village and surrounding areas, including the upscale Bogue Heights community, were assured last week that no major construction work, which would disrupt the flow of traffic, would be done during peak hours. The agency outlined that no work would be done between the hours of 7:00 to 9:00 am in the mornings and 4:00 to 6:00 pm in the evenings, noting that major work would be done at nights.

However, residents suggested that the hours be extended as major morning and evening rush along the Bogue main road would exceed those hours.

Major traffic jams along the Bogue road, the main thoroughfare that carries traffic in and out of the city via the south coast to and from the parishes of Hanover, Westmoreland and St Elizabeth into Montego Bay, have long been the source of distress to the motoring public of western Jamaica, which depends heavily on this road.

The agency promised follow-up meetings with the various communities that felt they might be adversely affected by the roadwork.