ST ANN, Jamaica —The National Works Agency (NWA) has announced that the Dumbarton main road in St Ann is now opened to vehicular traffic.

The road, which links Browns Town to Discovery Bay, was closed for about eight months after it was cut off when a culvert collapsed during heavy rains in December last year.

In a release today, NWA’s manager of communication and customer services, Stephen Shaw, said the corridor was recently opened to vehicular traffic, even though the $21 million project under which it is being rehabilitated is yet to be completed.

The estimated time of completion is October, NWA said.

NWA said work to reopen the corridor started in April through a contract that formed part of the Major Infrastructure Development Programme (MIDP).

Shaw said the reopening of the road was facilitated by the construction of a new reinforced concrete box culvert. Gabion protective works have also been done within the channel of the nearby gully and sidewalks installed for safer access along the road by pedestrians.

NWA informed that the final works, which include paving of the affected section with asphaltic concrete, is to be done shortly.

In the meantime, Shaw said a National Water Commission (NWC) reinstatement project, which is being undertaken along the same road is nearing completion.

Approximately five kilometres of cuts are being targeted. About 130 metres of the areas disturbed by the NWC in an earlier pipe-laying exercise remains outstanding. He said it is also expected that this will completed shortly.

Motorists and pedestrians are being urged to exercise caution for the remainder of the planned works and to obey the instructions of posted warning signs.