MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Within the next six months the long-standing issue of congestion in this south-central town is to be addressed with the implementation of the Greater Mandeville Traffic Management System.

Major projects manager at the National Works Agency Orville Reynolds said the $80-million project, which incorporates roads and intersections being widened and signalised, is to commence soon.

“The project is not new to Mandeville, we have been here before and we have been a part of stakeholder discussions regarding the issues that have affected circulation. The project was developed essentially to cover the entire town centre district, but we are constrained by funding and we had to reduce what we had proposed in the initial stage,” he said while addressing a sensitisation session in Mandeville last Friday.

“…We are going to be basically reconstructing most of the major intersections within the town centre, it will require us to relocate some public utilities, because what we have considered is we are going to have to move them, so JPS will be impacted,” added Reynolds.

Among the roads and intersections to be signalised under the Greater Mandeville Traffic Management System are North Race Course Road to Main Street, North Race Course Road to Caledonia Road, Villa Road to Main Street, South Race Course Road, Caledonia Road, Park Crescent, Manchester Road, Perth Road, and Greenvale Road.

Reynolds explained that phase one of the project will include the conversion of a section of Caledonia Road into a one-way system.

He added that areas now designated for taxis to park will be affected by the project.

“At points they will have to consider a revisit [as to] how they are designated. We also anticipate that we will have minimum disruption to the traffic flow during the implementation of the project simply because what we are doing is mainly improving the conflict points, which are the intersections and we are introducing improved management of them through traffic signals and reorganising of how we traffic through these areas,” he added.

He said J and L Construction, which is the contractor for the project, will take into consideration suitable working hours to reduce traffic congestion.

“We have also discussed the option of working outside of regular working hours to do the heavy lifting, so we want to ensure that if we are doing excavation works…We do it at a time when it is a minimum [inconvenience], so we can remove the debris and refill the space… so [motorists] won’t be hindered,” he said.

Mayor of Mandeville Donovan Mitchell said he is looking forward to the completion of the project.

“Based on what I have seen so far, it will ease the travelling time within the town centre significantly. I know of one area that I am elated about, because I have been pushing for it. The intersection between Villa Road and Main Street onto Hargreaves Avenue where you will be able to make a right and ease some of the traffic going up into the town centre,” he said.

Mitchell reiterated the local municipality’s plan to implement designated hours for deliveries by trucks to businesses to alleviate congestion.

“We will be regulating the time that trucks come in the town centre and I tell you, for example, Manchester Road and South Race Course are two major problems where trucks just come any time, any day, park just about anywhere, you have couple weeks or probably less than a month to solve that out,” said Mitchell.

Reynolds, in responding to a suggestion from Councillor Jones Oliphant (People’s National Party, Mandeville Division) to widen a section of Caledonia Road to accommodate another lane, pointed out that land acquisition is a tedious process.

“…We can make the proposal and we will see if it is supported by our senior management, but at this stage there was a deliberate intention to avoid land acquisition [as if it] is not done prior to the implementation of a project it is going to be costly and it is going to cause some significant amount of delays…” he explained.