Highway 2000


Highway 2000 is a highway connecting Kingston, with Montego Bay and Ocho Rios, passing through the parishes of St. Catherine, Saint Ann, Manchester and proposed sections through St. James, Saint Elizabeth, Westmoreland, Hanover. The highway is operated by the Jamaica Infrastructure Operators and developed by Trans-Jamaica Highway Limited through contractors CHEC and Bouygues Construction.
The highway is a four-to-six lane controlled-access, tolled motorway with grade-separated interchanges and intersections built according to modern international standards. Tolling of the highway is governed by a Tolling Policy.
The highway was built on a phased basis. Phases 1A and 1B are considered as the East-West Leg and Portmore Causeway. Phase 2A is considered as the North-South Leg.
On September 15, 2009, Jamaica's then prime minister, Bruce Golding, announced to Parliament that Highway 2000 was to be renamed in honour of Usain Bolt, however, Bolt decided to reject the honour.

History

The Highway 2000 construction project was initialized by Government of Jamaica in September 1999. The main objective of this project was to upgrade Jamaica's infrastructure, provide economic opportunities for growth and create jobs. The Project is a public-private partnership structured to maximize operational efficiency and minimize costs. The project is still ongoing, with the direct link to Montego Bay yet to be determined.
Notably, the intention of connecting Jamaica via such a comprehensive highway system, was first expressed and clearly defined in the Jamaican Transportation Survey of 1968/69; as a matter of fact, much of the current Highway 2000 alignments were proposed and defined therein, including the phase 1, East-West Leg and Portmore Causeway, phase 2, North-South Leg as well as a proposal to connect the East-West Leg to Montego Bay. The proposed highway system was also included and adopted in the National Physical Plan for Jamaica 1970-90 with suggestions to have an alternate North-South Leg from May Pen to Discovery Bay as opposed to the one actually constructed from Caymanas to Ocho Rios. The NPP was a non-partisan Plan for Jamaica, first conducted under the United Nations Special Fund Project "Assistance in Physical Planning". The Plan was drafted by the then Town Planning Department of the Ministry of Finance and Planning, Jamaica, and vetted by the then Prime Minister of Jamaica, the Most Honourable Hugh Lawson Shearer ON OJ, as well as the Minister of Finance and Planning, the Most Honourable Edward Philip George Seaga ON.

Phases

The project is divided into two phases, with the second phase being further divided into two.

Phase 1A (~46 km)

The 66 km, Highway 2000 North-South Leg, has reduced travel time from Kingston to the North Coast town of Ocho Rios and the city of Montego Bay significantly. The construction took take place in 3 phases:
1. Mount Rosser Bypass - completed August 5, 2014
2. Caymanas to Linstead - Opened March 2016
3. Moneague to Ocho Rios - Opened March 2016

Phase 2B

Williamsfield to Montego Bay—general alignment not yet clearly defined

Route Information

Saint Ann

The highway's North-South Leg begins in St. Ann at the Mammee Bay interchange which links T3 with the Northern Coastal Highway. The highway cuts through the interior of the parish and has 2 additional interchanges which have tolled on/off ramps and a rest stop at Unity Valley. The highway then transitions into St. Catherine.

Saint Catherine

The highway's North-South Leg and East-West Leg run through the parish of St. Catherine. The highway's significance is especially seen in the parish. The predecessor of the North-South Leg - T3 was the A1, which involved passing through Mount Rosser, the Bog Walk Gorge and over The Flat Bridge. These areas were notorious for their particularly long travel times, in addition to the winding path through Mt. Rosser and the inaccessibility of the Bog Walk Gorge and Flat Bridge during adverse weather conditions. The highway bypasses these areas via the Mt. Rosser Bypass and the Linstead to Angels section of the highway and minimizes the total journey time from Kingston to Ocho Rios from over 2 hours to under an hour.
The East-West portion of the highway goes from the Vineyards Toll Booth to Mineral Heights/Glenmuir road toll booth in Clarendon.
The T2 or Portmore Causeway goes from the parish of Kingston and into St. Catherine.

Kingston

The Highway's T2 leg called the Portmore Causeway begins on Marcus Garvey Drive and ends on Dawkins Drive and Dyke Road.

Saint Andrew

Though the highway has no formal presence in the parish of St. Andrew, the Washington Boulevard leads onto Mandela Highway and vice versa - after the interchange leading to either New Kingston or Downtown & the Airport. Mandela Highway has on and off ramps to all sections of the highway.