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Mt Rosser Bypass to loop into bauxite territory - Toll point at Russell Pen
published: Friday | September 21, 2007
Lavern Clarke, Business Editor
Ivan Anderson, chief executive officer, NROCC. - File
Bouygues Travaux Publics design of the new Mount Rosser Bypass will loop traffic further east and into bauxite territory in a radical reshaping of the highwa an environmental report on the project released last week shows.
Once built, the road will be tolled with the collection point at Russell Pen.
Construction began in June, said National Road Operation and Construction Company (NROCC) chief executive Ivan Anderson.
The main highway connecting St. Catherine and St. Ann currently runs through Linstead, Ewarton, the narrow, winding and delay plagued Mount Rosser/Mount Diablo hills - the parish borders - into Faith's Pen/Schwallenberg and on to Moneague.
Construction is priced at US$99.5 million, but Anderson said Thursday that the parties were still negotiating the financing agreement.
"This is not yet finalised," he told the Financial Gleaner.
"But it is anticipated that the split will be of the order of 60 per cent commercial and 40 per cent government of Jamaica."
The bypass will divert from much of that route, but reconnect close to Faith's Pen, a favourite spot for coal-fired food for travellers between the cities of Kingston and Montego Bay.
The new route as designed by Bouygues, starts at the Linstead Bypass, where an interchange will be built, then runs northwest almost parallel to the existing road, before taking a radical swing east.
The alignment moves close to communities like Threadways, Recess Pen and Bailey Town and Mullock, before reconnecting to Faith's Pen.
It then switches west of the existing road alignment, ending at Moneague.
"The by-pass will see the construction of a 24 kilometre long, two lane, tolled dual-carriage with the expressed purpose of by-passing the existing, but now outmoded, A1 highway that skirts the eastern side of the Mount Diablo," said the environmental impact assessment report.
"The highway will alleviate much of the traffic congestion now common on the existing A1 road."
That report will form the basis of public consultations with communities to be impacted by the development, allowing for any objections to be heard.
The bypass is expected to take 30 months or 2.5 years to build. The expected completion date, said Anderson, is December 2009.
The project also calls for the laying of fibre optic cables along the highway to facilitate operations of the toll road.
The toll plaza at Russell Pen is expected to have seven lanes, and the structure similar to the Vineyards operation.
EnviroPlanners Limited, who conducted the EIA, report that 52 per cent of residents believe the project will destroy much of their natural environment, a fact highlighted in the EIA, which notes that th will run along what is now mostly a greenfield site, requiring large scale clearance of plants and disruption of animal life.
"The clearing and removal of trees and vegetation during the highway construction will result in the loss of a significant part of the existing dry limestone forest and, as a consequence, a reduction in the habitat for the flora and fauna," said the report.
But 66 per cent of residents believe a new highway will be a catalyst for business growth while 86 per cent anticipate that it will create jobs.
The majority of residents, 86 per cent, also said it would improve transportation.
lavern.clarke@gleanerjm.com
published: Friday | September 21, 2007
Lavern Clarke, Business Editor
Ivan Anderson, chief executive officer, NROCC. - File
Bouygues Travaux Publics design of the new Mount Rosser Bypass will loop traffic further east and into bauxite territory in a radical reshaping of the highwa an environmental report on the project released last week shows.
Once built, the road will be tolled with the collection point at Russell Pen.
Construction began in June, said National Road Operation and Construction Company (NROCC) chief executive Ivan Anderson.
The main highway connecting St. Catherine and St. Ann currently runs through Linstead, Ewarton, the narrow, winding and delay plagued Mount Rosser/Mount Diablo hills - the parish borders - into Faith's Pen/Schwallenberg and on to Moneague.
Construction is priced at US$99.5 million, but Anderson said Thursday that the parties were still negotiating the financing agreement.
"This is not yet finalised," he told the Financial Gleaner.
"But it is anticipated that the split will be of the order of 60 per cent commercial and 40 per cent government of Jamaica."
The bypass will divert from much of that route, but reconnect close to Faith's Pen, a favourite spot for coal-fired food for travellers between the cities of Kingston and Montego Bay.
The new route as designed by Bouygues, starts at the Linstead Bypass, where an interchange will be built, then runs northwest almost parallel to the existing road, before taking a radical swing east.
The alignment moves close to communities like Threadways, Recess Pen and Bailey Town and Mullock, before reconnecting to Faith's Pen.
It then switches west of the existing road alignment, ending at Moneague.
"The by-pass will see the construction of a 24 kilometre long, two lane, tolled dual-carriage with the expressed purpose of by-passing the existing, but now outmoded, A1 highway that skirts the eastern side of the Mount Diablo," said the environmental impact assessment report.
"The highway will alleviate much of the traffic congestion now common on the existing A1 road."
That report will form the basis of public consultations with communities to be impacted by the development, allowing for any objections to be heard.
The bypass is expected to take 30 months or 2.5 years to build. The expected completion date, said Anderson, is December 2009.
The project also calls for the laying of fibre optic cables along the highway to facilitate operations of the toll road.
The toll plaza at Russell Pen is expected to have seven lanes, and the structure similar to the Vineyards operation.
EnviroPlanners Limited, who conducted the EIA, report that 52 per cent of residents believe the project will destroy much of their natural environment, a fact highlighted in the EIA, which notes that th will run along what is now mostly a greenfield site, requiring large scale clearance of plants and disruption of animal life.
"The clearing and removal of trees and vegetation during the highway construction will result in the loss of a significant part of the existing dry limestone forest and, as a consequence, a reduction in the habitat for the flora and fauna," said the report.
But 66 per cent of residents believe a new highway will be a catalyst for business growth while 86 per cent anticipate that it will create jobs.
The majority of residents, 86 per cent, also said it would improve transportation.
lavern.clarke@gleanerjm.com
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