PORTMORE WOMEN SPEAK ...Taking a toll
Published: Monday | November 9, 2009
Carletta Gordon-Raby uses the toll road regularly. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer
On July 15, 2006, the first set of cars rolled through the contentious Portmore toll plaza in St Catherine.
Almost three years later, the toll is now $120 for class-one vehicles, $170 for class two and $340 for class-three vehicles. Residents are still disgruntled and for 'Trish', the yearly increase puts her in a financial quandary. A single parent, her daughter attends primary school in Kingston.
"That's $240 each day and I don't buy lunch yet. I don't buy juice with my lunch, I just have water because I can't
"I'm paying to go home and when I'm on the toll, I can look over at the causeway that used to be free; it hurts."
Allowance requested
Carletta Gordon-Raby owns a flower arrangement business and has to make deliveries in Kingston, sometimes multiple trips, so the toll is especially difficult for her. "It's too high for Portmore residents; we should be given some allowance," notes Raby at a recent round-table talk with Flair Magazine at The Gleaner's North Street offices.
Some Portmore residents; have resorted to using the Mandela Highway but that route has become extremely congested, particularly during peak hours.