KINGSTON, Jamaica – On the first day of the 2023/24 academic year, residents of St Thomas encountered smooth traffic flow on sections of the Southern Coastal Highway Improvement Project (SCHIP) in the parish.

Road users were observed on several segments of the highway, between Yallahs Bridge and Harbour View on Monday, during the peak hours of 6:00 am and 9:00 am.

Among some of the notable new features was the opening of a stretch of paved road at Mezgar Gardens, which replaced the narrow, unpaved section that was being used up to Saturday. This eliminated traffic pile-up in that area.

A National Works Agency (NWA) release indicated the provision of two-lane roadways during peak hours.

This was observed between Eight Miles in Bull Bay and Harbour View by St Benedict’s Primary School. Here, motorists heading into Kingston occupied both lanes on the left of the road and motorists bound for St. Thomas occupied a single lane on the opposite side.

Several pieces of signage were also observed to indicate where a detour is to be made, as well as flag persons along some sections of the road.

Not to be missed was the presence of the police at different points along the commute as they gave a watchful eye over the movement of traffic.

Inspector Ian Parker of the Public Safety and Traffic Enforcement Branch (PSTEB) told JIS News, “It was a smooth flow in both directions,” adding that “some work [was] done on the road over the weekend to facilitate this.”

He pointed out that two units from PSTEB were stationed at the foot of the Bull River bridge while a unit from the Kingston East Police Division was patrolling the stretch of road in both directions.

The Inspector said those teams were supported by a unit from the St Thomas Division, whose members “came along to see what [was] happening”.

He said the reason for the area being so “well policed” was “to ensure that the delay is as minimal as possible… and to allow each person to get to wherever they are going without any major delay”.

Inspector Parker further indicated that any slowdown of traffic would occur only in areas where the road surface is not smooth and still under construction.

This was, however, hardly noticed as the majority of the road is now completed or nearing completion.

Motorists spoke highly of the measures implemented that have ensured the smooth flow of traffic for back-to-school.

“I can’t complain this morning. We got a free flow and there was no traffic at all,” said bus operator Kevin Hibbert, who plies the Morant Bay to Kingston route.

“I reached Kingston on time. From about a week or two now, it’s not so bad as before. Sometimes it used to take me nearly three hours to get into Kingston. and now it is taking me an hour and a half. It’s a good look,” he said.

Albion resident, Adrian Samuels, who took his son to school in the Corporate Area on Monday, similarly indicated that the commute was seamless, while pointing out that the SCHIP is making progress in the parish of his birth.

“Normally for back-to-school, you would expect some delays… but this morning, that was not the case. This not only shows that the road project is progressing, but that it is improving [on] the driving experience that existed before,” Samuels said.

-JIS