$40-billion road project to SPARK development

St Catherine and Clarendon set to receive the most funds for the rehabilitation of roads under the government's Shared Prosperity through Accelerated Improvement to our Road Network (SPARK) programme.

The $40-billion road improvement project is aimed at modernising more than 2,000 roads islandwide. The works will entail improving road surfaces and intersections along targeted urban corridors, installing localised drainage, improving road safety through the construction of retaining walls and installation of guardrails, and installing pedestrian facilities at selected locations.

Some of the roads to be rehabilitated in the Corporate Area include Mountain View Avenue, Old Hope Road, Molynes Road, Waltham Park Road and Constant Spring to Stony Hill.

In St Catherine, the corridors that have been selected include Caymanas to Twickenham Park, Spanish Town to Angels and Tamarind Farm to Naggo Head.

In St Thomas, the Government plans to rehabilitate the roads from Morant Crossing to Whitehall, Airy Mount to Hampton Court and Port Morant to Bath.

Among the roads in Manchester are the Caledonia Road, Spur Tree to Gutters and Williamsfield to Greenvale via Bypass. The plans for St Elizabeth include Luana to Black River to Scotts Cove, Malvern to Santa Cruz, and Luana to Sandy Ground.

According to the JIS, the corridors were selected based on factors such as traffic volume, the condition of the roads, safety factors such as reducing accidents or increasing emergency response times, cost, ease of implementation, and social impacts, such as increased access to services or decreased social cohesion.

Other roads slated for attention under SPARK are Free Town to Four Paths, Crooked River to Pennants Douce, Whitney Town to Four Paths in Clarendon. In addition, the Hope Bay to Orange Bay, Orange Bay to Windsor Castle, Rio Grande to Hope Bay in Portland are on the list of roads to be rehabilitated.

In St Mary, the authorities have listed the Halifax Bridge to Lucky Hill, Lucky Hill to Goshen and Port Maria to Islington as corridors to be addressed under SPARK.

The St Ann roads that have been selected include Alexandria to Brown's Town, Discovery Bay to Browns Town and the Ocho Rios township.

In Hanover, the focus will be on the road leading from Great River to Kew Bridge, Green Island to Negril and Lucea to Green Island.

In St James, the Adelphi to Kent, Barnett Street to Howard Cooke Boulevard and the Flankers Old Road are among those selected.

The Trelawny roadways include Albert Town to Allsides, Duncans to Long Pond and Salt Marsh to Kent, while in Westmoreland, the Negril to Parish Border, Ferris to George's Plain, and Negril to Negril Lighthouse roads have been placed on the SPARK list.

Money to be spent on roads in each parish

St Catherine - $4.2 billion

Clarendon - $4.087 billion

St Mary - $3.2 billion

St Ann - $3.2 billion

St Andrew - $2.9 billion

Hanover - $2.516 billion

Trelawny - $1.8 billion

Westmoreland - $2 billion

Kingston - $2 billion

St James - $2.2 billion

St Elizabeth - $1.5 billion

Manchester - $1.257 billion

St Thomas - $1.2 billion

Portland - $1 billion