'Give us a break' - Portmore advocate wants delay in toll increase

With the roadwork on Mandela Highway causing peak-hour traffic to be reduced to a crawl, David Barnett, chairman of the All Hellshire Group, has appealed to the Toll Authority to delay the increase of toll rates for users of the Portmore leg of Highway 2000.

Come July 1, motorists who use the Portmore Toll Road, the Spanish Town, Vineyards and the May Pen legs of Highway 2000 will be required to pay more to drive on the highway.

To use the Portmore leg of the highway, drivers of Class One vehicles, which include motor cars and some crossovers, will have to pay $220. Class Two vehicles will have to pay $670.

Barnett said that many persons are now being forced to use the Portmore leg of the toll road because of the work taking place on the Mandela Highway.

"What they describe as alternate route is not really an alternate with the work going on and all. It would have been better to give us a break until the alternate is at a better stage or at an advanced stage," Barnett argued.

"The traffic is ridiculous in the morning. It seems we have to be on the road pretty much from 5 a.m., and you would still encounter traffic because everybody is still pretty much on the road then, because everybody is trying to beat the rush hour. "