New Traffic Management System for Mo-Bay

Residents of Montego Bay, St. James, were introduced to the new Traffic Management System, to be introduced in that city soon, at a meeting held by officials of the National Works Agency (NWA), at the Montego Bay Civic Centre, on August 20.
The system has been put together at a cost of $55 million, funded by the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF). It is designed to drastically reduce the level of traffic congestion being experienced in the city.
This should be achieved through the installation of a number of co-ordinated traffic signals, and an incident management system, manned by personnel at the Montego Bay police station, in the Montego Freeport area.
The incident management system consists of closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras located at key intersections throughout the city. This will allow for real time responses to traffic conditions.
Chairman of the TEF, Godfrey Dyer, in bringing greetings at the meeting, expressed pleasure at the development of the system by the NWA. “I want us to bear in mind, however, that any system one puts in cannot, by itself, work; we will all have to co-operate with that system to make it a successful system,” he emphasised.
His Worship the Mayor of Montego Bay, Councillor Charles Sinclair Jnr., also called for the full co-operation of all persons who use the streets of the city, both pedestrians and motorists. He also expressed pleasure at the fact that the NWA has taken on the task of trying to alleviate the traffic problems being experienced in the city.
Details of the new Traffic Management System were outlined by NWA Transportation System Specialist, Michael Saunderson, following which he entertained questions from the many motorists who were present.
During his presentation, he pointed out that some key concerns taken into consideration when developing the traffic system were the need to reduce the unacceptable delays that motorists were experiencing within the city.
Along with the introduction of a number of traffic lights, Mr. Saunderson explained that there will be some nine major traffic flow changes. These are:
(1) The one way system along St. James Street to be extended to its intersection with Barnett Street.
(2) The one way along Barnett Street will be extended to the intersection of Howard Cooke Boulevard.
(3) Lower Market Street and Strand Street will be one way heading in the direction of Creek Street.
(4) Church Street will be one way from North to South.
(5) The one way will be extended along Union Street to its intersection with Harbour Street. Movement will be from South to North.
(6) Orange Street, between Church and Union Streets, will be one way from West to East.
(7) King Street, between Union and Market Streets, will be one way from East to West.
(8) Love Lane will be one way from North to South, a reversal of the current traffic movement and;
(9) McCatty Street and Hart Street will flow in a one-way direction from the intersection of Cottage Road and McCatty Street to the intersection of Hart Street and Creek Street.
Mr. Saunderson explained that the timeline for full implementation of the Traffic Management System will be between August 29 and the month of September.