KINGSTON, Jamaica – The recently opened Linstead to Moneague leg of the North South link of Highway 2000 is probably the most significant engineering road infrastructure project ever done in Jamaica.

This is the view of managing director of the National Road Operating and Constructing Company (NROCC), Ivan Anderson, who spoke to JIS News in an interview following the opening of the project.

Anderson explained that constructing the 19.3 kilometres roadway, popularly called the Mount Rosser Bypass, involved moving in excess of six million cubic metres of material or 300,000 to 400,000 truckloads.

 “We also had to deal with some challenges in a small area of the roadway approximately 650 metres long, where eighty 40-foot piles had to be constructed to retain the slope on Mount Rosser and stabilise the area where geotechnical issues were being experienced,” he said.

Anderson noted that the road construction also included slope stability through the construction of anchor rod/cable beam frames and gravity retaining walls.

“A protective mechanism was used to prevent materials such as rubble and stones from falling off the hillside and onto the roadway. Netting and mesh have been used to prevent this and it is not something that has been done before in Jamaica,” he stated.

Anderson informed that the North South link of the highway also had safety features particularly for heavy duty vehicles.

“The highway has slopes of about eight per cent and while they are not the steepest slopes in Jamaica, we have sought to provide three emergency escape lanes especially for trucks, which commonly have braking issues in other similar areas such as Spur Tree Hill,” he said.

Anderson pointed out that if a truck loses control it can run off into these areas. “The lanes are equipped with sand, which will naturally hold the truck and stop it from running away” he continued.

He added that there is a brake check area at the top of the hill, which is also designed particularly for truckers to confirm that brakes are working prior to beginning the long descent.

The north south link of the highway is expected to significantly reduce traffic along the major thoroughfare that connects the north coast of the island to the south coast. When completed, the 66-kilometre roadway will stretch from Nelson Mandela Highway in the vicinity of the Ferry Police Station to Ocho Rios, just west of Dunn’s River Falls.