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Thousands Travel On Highway 2000
Over eleven
thousand motorists traveled on the newly-opened section of Phase 1a
of Highway 2000 between Bushy Park, St. Catherine and Sandy Bay,
Clarendon on the toll road’s first day of operation, Monday
September 22.
Colin Murray, Manager
of the Toll Plaza, said that he was pleased with the number of
motorists passing through the Plaza and their positive response to
this, Jamaica’s first toll road. Murray added that the Toll Plaza,
which opened at six a.m. on Monday with a moratorium on toll payments
effective until 12:01am on Thursday morning, had so far been running
smoothly.
“We will start
collecting fees from motorists on Thursday morning (September 25). We
are just doing simulations and handing out information to motorists
between now and then,” Murray explained.
Meanwhile, when
interviewed on Tuesday morning, several motorists said they were happy
to use the toll road.
“The toll way is excellent…I have no
problem paying the toll because it will help to maintain it,” said 65
year-old Lincoln Sutherland who uses the Highway for business
purposes.
“I feel good about it
because it is a good achievement to have the Highway, because it makes
traveling much nicer and easier,” said 53-year-old electrician, Lloyd
Wellington.
35-year-old architect
Adrian Smith, was also supportive of the first phase of the Highway
and said, “We needed this toll highway for a very long time. My only
concern is the indiscipline and the number of vehicles which will use
it. But I am okay with the J$50 fee, and I am thinking of making some
prepayments for business and pleasure purposes.”
Come September 25,
tolls will be paid on a 24-hour, 7 days per week basis, using either
cash or a prepaid TAG card. The prepaid TAG card, available at the
Toll Plaza’s Sales Office, works like a debit card that can accept as
well as release funds.
The driver puts a TAG
sticker on the windshield and goes through the Toll Plaza in a lane
that is reserved only for TAG payments. On stopping, the laser scans
the TAG sticker and automatically deducts the correct amount before
the barrier is lifted. In addition, a warning is displayed on the
electronic monitor when the driver’s account is running low.
There are three categories of toll
fees that are dependent on the size of the vehicle:
Category 1, $50
– for vehicles less than 2m high and of any length, including motor
cars, small sport utility vehicles, and motorcycles
Category 2, $60
— for vehicles more than 2m high and less than 5.5m long,
including large sport utility vehicles, some pickup trucks, and
minibuses
Category 3, $120
— for vehicles more than 2m high and more than 5.5m long, which
includes large buses, trucks and trailers
All users, including
GOJ licensed (yellow plate), PPV (red plate), trailers, towing
vehicles (wreckers), as well diplomatic vehicles must pay tolls. Only
government emergency vehicles such as paramedic ambulances, the
police, the army and fire trucks are exempt.
Highway 2000 is a
high-speed, four-lane dual carriageway that is 26.6m wide. Traffic
going in opposite directions will be separated by a median barrier.
Each of the four lanes is 3.65m wide. On either side of the highway
there is a 1m verge and a hard shoulder that will be between 2.5m and
3m wide. In addition, the highway has a 3.6m reserve.
Among the safety
features are hard shoulders that make emergency pullovers along the
highway safer. Underneath this hard shoulder is a network of fibre
optic cables that connect to emergency telephone kiosks and traffic
monitoring stations at various locations along the route. The
telephones are clearly labeled “SOS” and motorists can use these to
alert the highway patrol and other emergency response vehicles.
Security fencing
along the entire length of road is designed to keep out wandering
livestock and pedestrians. Pedestrians are not allowed to cross the
Highway except at the designated overhead and underpass crossings
located along the Highway.
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