By Erica James-King, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
THE MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR dualisation of Howard Cooke Boulevard in Montego Bay, which is still in construction mode, is proving to be a bone of discontent for craft vendors.
The dualisation has transformed Fort Street into a cul-de-sac, and this has not found favour with the traders at the Old Fort Craft Market, located along that roadway. The craft vendors complain that, because the road is no longer a throughway, it is contributing to the already sluggish business being experienced by them.
"Since the road ends in a dead-end, hardly any buses and taxis bring tourists round here," Una Campbell lamented. "One time even when a local person don't plan to buy, him might be passing and decide to spend a money with us. All that stop since them permanently block off the end of the road in the dualisation project."
The main objective of the $718 million Howard Cooke dualisation programme is the reduction of traffic congestion in the city, by converting the two-lane Howard Cooke Boulevard into a four-lane roadway from the Amphitheatre at Queens Drive to the intersection at Alice Eldermire Drive and Bogue road.
Kerry Thomas, project manager with the contractors on the project, West Indies Home Contrac-tors Infrastructure Limited (WIHCONIL), who is confident that the dualisation will meet its April 2004 completion deadline, is of the view that the work completed on the project has already eased traffic flow in certain sections of the 3.5 kilometre roadway. But, craft vendors are questioning the rationale for turning the road into a cul-de-sac, to improve the flow of traffic in the resort town.
HURTING BUSINESS
This "negative" spin-off from the dualisation couldn't have come at a worse time, according to the traders. "Business has been very slow for us; the tourist buses are hardly stopping here. It seems like only the in-bond merchants are getting sales," vendor Marcia Hall complained. "Right now I am in arrears with four months rent to the Parish Council, because I can't pay my rent through slow business."
Joan James, president of the Old Fort Craft Vendors Associa-tion, agrees. "Apart from the bleak business, the whole craft market wants to be renovated," contended Ms. James.
