MONTEGO BAY, St James – Deputy Mayor of Montego Bay Councillor Richard Vernon has issued a “final warning” against the misuse of thoroughfares in the second city.

According to Vernon, the St James Municipal Corporation (SJMC) will be on a mission to tow vehicles that are left along the sides of roads starting Monday morning.

“If you leave your vehicles along the roadway overnight, we are going to take them up. For those vehicles that are parked along the roadway, we are going to take them up. If you are operating a garage and your operation spills over onto the roadway or you are doing the operation on the roadway, we are going to take them up,” declared Vernon.

The deputy mayor told OBSERVER ONLINE that the municipal corporation has started to issue warnings to motorists after receiving complaints regarding vehicles being left along the major thoroughfare in the Rose Hall area in the vicinity of the Iberostar hotel.

“We note that people are using the road reserve for car sales, car wash, and parking of trucks, and they are also putting structures along the road reserve. We cannot facilitate that for obvious reasons because they hinder traffic,” Vernon said.

“It is a part of the road feature that must remain clear at all times, and complaints came in regarding the pile-up of vehicles at the Iberostar area, so we have taken the necessary actions. We are going to do the same for the people who are parking the trucks along that roadway,” Vernon told the Sunday Observer.

He stated that the “necessary action” comes in the form of an SJMC sticker being placed on the windshields of these vehicles requesting their removal. However, the local authority is prepared to remove these vehicles to create a safer space and better flow of traffic, Vernon said.

In addition to that, Vernon said that the push to remove those vehicles had also spread to the city of Montego Bay. He pointed out that those roadways have been plagued recently with traffic, due to misuse by motorists and garage operators.

“In the town area, in the vicinity of Cornaldi Avenue and the Montego Bay Infant School, we have people operating the roadside garages and in some instances, there are properly established areas for the garage operation, but due to the volume of clients coming to those service providers, they spill over on to the roadway. We have experienced situations where those people tried to work on a vehicle right here along the roadway, creating a situation where we have two-way traffic being converted to one-way traffic,” he said.

“That is dangerous for the providers of emergency services,” Vernon bemoaned.

The deputy mayor went on to complain that these activities, which are usually being carried out in school zones, are to be discontinued as they pose a serious threat to the well-being and safety of motorists and pedestrians.

“I see people even welding [and] spraying vehicles along the roadway. We cannot facilitate that because it is creating a hazardous and inconvenient situation for the users of the space. We are taking the necessary actions so we appealed to them, we issued a warning, and if we don’t get any compliance by Monday morning, the tow trucks will be out removing the derelict vehicles,” Vernon told OBSERVER ONLINE.

Pointing out that the removal of these vehicles was also a part of the local authority’s back-to-school readiness, Vernon appealed to motorists to respect the roadways, especially within a school zone.

“A school zone is supposed to remain sterile. That area must provide proper access to garbage trucks, water trucks, fire trucks, ambulances, or any other type of emergency that is necessary within that space. So we are appealing to the users of the space to just work with us and manage their operations. We need these areas sterile for our youngsters,” Vernon said.

At the same time, major roadworks are being carried out across various divisions in the parish to ensure there is a proper flow of traffic for the reopening of schools, Vernon noted.

“We are also doing some road repairs to ensure that the road can manage the flow of traffic, starting on Monday morning. We are looking to do some remedial work to the Sign Irwin main road… and we [started] that on Saturday, so come Monday morning the Sign Irwin main road should be very passable for the motorists in that area,” he said.

Among the other roads repaired is the Pegga Road in Irwin, which was a major cause of contention between the municipal corporation and residents of the gated community, Meadows of Irwin.

“There was also work done on the Pegga Road and other sections of Irwin. There is also a hole that was created due to work done by the National Water Commission at the entrance of Cornwall Courts. They finished the remedial work to the pipeline and have given the green light for us to fix it so that we can facilitate ease of traffic in that area as well,” he told the Sunday Observer.

“This is all a push to ensure that we have a better flow of traffic and management within the city,” Vernon added.