KINGSTON, Jamaica — The National Water Commission is hoping to have the broken pipeline along Mandela Highway – the main thoroughfare connecting St Catherine and St Andrew – repaired by 8:00 pm today.

The roadway was flooded with water gushing from the main, severely hampering motorists travelling into Kingston this morning.

As the repair work continues, head of the police Traffic and Highway Division, Senior Superintendent Calvin Allen, is reassuring motorists that the west-bound lanes heading out of Kingston this evening are “good to go” and that police officers will be along the corridor to help with the flow of traffic as best as possible.

He told OBSERVER ONLINE on Tuesday that the police will maintain their presence along the roadway while a technical team from National Water Commission (NWC) completes the repair.

SSP Allen said that NWC are “feverishly treating with the remedying of the situation” and that they have assured him that the repair should take six to eight hours.

 “We are anticipating that by about 8 o’clock tonight they should finish their work and we can have traffic flowing as best as possible for the east bound for tomorrow morning,” SSP Allen said.

However, he said that if they are still not finished tonight then the police will employ measures similar to this morning, which was to “arrest one of the west-bound lanes in order that they can have back two lanes to treat with the east-bound flow (of traffic)”.

“So that is what is taking place as we speak. In fact, I should add that we have been using up a part of the Plantation Heights area, that flat piece of land there, there is a makeshift road in that area and we have been using it in order to reduce the level of congestion heading into Kingston, bearing in mind that that corridor is the main gateway into the city.

“So it is a whole lot of traffic but it is flowing, so we (are) asking for a level of understanding and patience from the motoring public,” SSP Allen said Tuesday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Ann Bolt from the Community Relations Department of NWC is imploring customers to be patient as they carry out repairs.

She reiterated that work should be done by 8 o’clock tonight, however, because the system serves a wide cross-section of communities, she said it will take a while for some customers to get water.

 “We looking probably late in the night to early morning by about 4:00 when the line is fully charged, so we are asking customers to be patient with us because it is going to take a while for the line to full up.  So if you are at the farthest end, it will take a while for you to get water,” she explained.

Shanica Blair