Heightened road construction activities set for Morant Bay

Activities have now ramped up significantly on the Southern Coastal Highway Improvement Project and will remain so for the next three months. The heightened road construction works will be concentrated primarily in the town of Morant Bay, St. Thomas where major pipe-laying activities are set to commence alongside ongoing civil works.   National Works Agency (NWA) Communication and Customer Services Manager, Stephen Shaw, explains that pipe-laying will be restricted to night time hours within the town limits in a bid to minimize disruptions to the movement of vehicular and pedestrian traffic.   However, he points out that despite the contractor’s best efforts motorists should expect there to be some impact on traffic flow, from time to time, as the works are being carried out in a largely urban setting. The aim is to have the entire stretch of roadway between the Morant Bay Roundabout and Wharf Road paved at the end of the ninety-day period.   Various other types of civil works continue over the entire nine kilometer stretch from the Morant Bay Roundabout to Prospect in a bid to complete the $1-billion Jamaican dollar contract package within the stated contract period of 19 months.   To date, 75% of the works on a major retaining sea wall in the vicinity of Morant Villas have been completed with now only a 4.5-metre high component outstanding. Though some aspects of the concrete drainage works have been put on hold to facilitate the laying of water pipelines, which commenced recently other concrete works such as the installation of sidewalks and kerb and gutter are continuing apace.