Motorists line up to enter the toll booths on Monday. - File MORE THAN 11,000 motorists travelled on newly-opened section of Phase 1(a) of Highway 2000 between Bushy Park, St. Catherine, and Sandy Bay, Clarendon, on the toll road's first day of operation on Monday.
According to a Highway 2000 release, 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 Jamaica's first toll road. Mr. Murray added that the Toll Plaza, which opened at 6 a.m. Monday with a moratorium on toll payments until Thursday, had so far been running smoothly.
"We are currently in negotiations to make the TAG cards available in other locations," said Ashley Gambrill, public relations spokesperson for the project.
Drivers are able to access this service by putting a TAG sticker on the windshield and enters the Toll Plaza in a lane that is reserved only for TAG payments.
On stopping at the toll booth, the laser scans the TAG sticker and then 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.
HIGH-SPEED, FOUR-LANE DUAL CARRIAGEWAY
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 3.65 metres 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 labelled '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. Pedestrians are not allowed to cross the highway except at the designated overhead and underpass crossings located along the highway.
Toll fee categories
THERE ARE three categories of toll fees that are dependent on the size of the vehicle:
Category 1, $50 - for vehicles less than 2 metres high and of any length, including motor cars, small sport utility vehicles, and motorcycles.
Category 2, $60 - for vehicles more than 2 metres high and less than 5.5 metres long, including large sport utility vehicles, some pickup trucks, and minibuses.
Category 3, $120 - for vehicles more than 2 metres high and more than 5.5 metres long, which includes large buses, trucks and trailers.
All users, including Govern-ment of Jamaica 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.
