LONDON – Jamaica’s Highway 2000 expands toll collection infrastructure with opening of Portmore gateway, completing the first phase of a three-tiered project.
Jamaican Infrastructure Operator, which operates the roadway for the TransJamaican Highway Ltd., increases order for TransCore radio frequency identification (RFID) eGo tags.
The paper-thin windshield sticker tag, which operates at 902-928 MHz frequency band, expands global use providing an economical RFID tag technology that can increase patrons’ migration to wireless payment of tolls and speed traffic throughput.
Jamaica’s Portmore toll facility, a vital economic corridor
(Photo: Business Wire)
The Jamaican Toll Roads Act, passed back in 2002, provided the charter for Highway 2000, a public-private partnership between the Government of Jamaica and the developer TransJamaican Highway Ltd.
Just one year later in October of 2003 the first phase of Highway 2000 was opened, commonly known as the Old Harbour bypass and stretching for some 13 km from Bushy Park to Sandy Bay, and included Jamaica’s first toll plaza. They have now completed the last portion of Phase one, and one of the most essential, the Portmore Causeway (Portmore is a city with approx. 250,000 inhabitants), which links Portmore to Kingston, a vital economic gateway. The Portmore section of Highway 2000 includes 7 kilometres of highway, a six-lane bridge, and a 21-lane toll plaza.
The concept of a TransJamaican Highway was first considered over 40 years ago and revived in 1994 when it was determined that Jamaica needed to employ the Build-Operate-Transfer model. As a public-private sector initiative, a concept gaining favor around the world, Highway 2000 is 100 percent financed by the developer, TransJamaican Highway Ltd.
Toll roads have been a part of public transportation throughout the world for centuries, and in use in Jamaica since the 18th century as thoroughfares built on private estates. These roads were used to improve the movement of goods to markets or the wharves and were usually in better condition than the public roads, so many preferred to use the estate route. Estate owners set up a gate through which users paid a toll to get through as a means to pay for maintaining the road. Today, with the popularity of automobiles in the 21st century and transportation demands escalating, toll roads are again a means to build and maintain roads in Jamaica.
