New parking facility set to ease Falmouth’s traffic nightmare

Western Bureau:

Falmouth Mayor Colin Gager has announced that a fix is coming soon for the seaside town’s perennial traffic nightmare.

The Trelawny capital, which transitioned from a sleeping town to the bustling commercial centre with the introduction of cruise shipping in 2010, began experiencing serious congestion when Water Square, in the town centre, was pedestrianised, leaving the town without one of its most used thoroughfares. Despite a number of changes to traffic flow on other streets, things have not improved significantly due, in part, to a shortage of public parking spaces.

This, Gager says, is about to be addressed.

“On completion, the Forrest Cloud Plaza, located on Market Street, will have free parking space for 250 vehicles,” said Gager.

“In addition, the municipality plans to construct paid parking areas on Tharpe Street. Business operators will be encouraged to park their vehicles in these areas to free up space for pedestrians to walk freely in the town.”

PAJ Input

The parking projects will benefit from the input of the Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ), which is driving the majority of the major projects in the town.

“We will be working hand in hand with the PAJ to build a transport centre on reclaimed lands in the vicinity of the newly opened market,” said Gager.

“This transport centre will take the minibuses and taxis off the streets of Falmouth.”

Delroy Christie, president of the Trelawny Chamber of Commerce, is looking forward to the implementation of the new parking arrangement, which he believes will make doing business in Falmouth easier.

“It will make a big difference,” said Christie.

“The mayor will need to organise a series of educational sessions with residents to help prepare them for the changes.”