Full interchange coming at Free Town and Bodles along Highway 2000

Details of the plans were disclosed by Managing Director of TransJamaican Highway (TJH) Ivan Anderson at a town hall meeting at the Free Town Primary School.

Residents in Longville Park; Free Town; The Aviary; New Harbour Village IV; and Sandy Bay currently are unable to access the highway’s westbound lane to go to May Pen and beyond. Neither do they have any access to an off-ramp in that area when travelling eastbound.

Anderson said the TJH carried out an assessment after much lobbying from stakeholders including William Shagoury, chair of the Toll Authority Board and former Custos Rotulorum of Clarendon, who was present at the meeting.

The Longville Park community, which sits on the Clarendon side of the St Catherine/Clarendon border, is one of the largest on the island with a population of some 3,000 inhabitants. Add to that is the rapid expansion of the Old Harbour region with New Harbour Village IV among the newest housing schemes to emerge after the completion of the May Pen leg of Highway 2000.
This is certainly welcomed news for those most affected and follows similar lobbying efforts in 2015 by stakeholders in Old Harbour due to the inaccessibility to an eastbound off ramp.

“It is in the continued assessment of the highway and after receiving many requests from the communities that we will be implementing these ramps,” Anderson said before telling the forum that engineers will construct a westbound on-ramp by expanding the existing exit at the HiPro factory as well as create an off-ramp eastbound by widening th entry ramp opposite Port Esquivel Sports Club in Bodles.

“There will be no tolls on the ramps,” Anderson explained to the nodding citizens gathered on the school’s quadrangle. “The people travelling further eastbound would pay a toll at May Pen, however, there would be no tolls at this exit at Free Town. Similarly, there would be no tolls to get on the Highway going westbound at Freetown, however, tolls would be payable at May Pen.”

Road users entering eastbound to Old Harbour would pay no tolls either on entrance or on exit. Similarly, persons who enter travelling westbound at Old Harbour would pay no tolls on entry or exit at Free Town.

To facilitate the added usage of the highway in this area, the improvement works will also include increasing the number of lanes at the Vineyards Toll Plaza. The project is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2025.