The Government of Jamaïca, represented by the ACB, plans to develop a controlled access, toll highway that will link Kingston with Montego Bay and Ocho Rios, and provide improved access to other urban, industrial and commercial centres such as Spanish Town, Old Harbour and Mandeville.   With “Highway 2000”, the GOJ is committed to provide safer and more efficient transportation of goods and people with a system of roadways that meets higher technical standards. 

In summary, the major goals of the GOJ for the Highway 2000 Project, are twofold: firstly, the highway will be the catalyst for economic activities along the corridors. Secondly, the highway will provide improved transportation that will shorten the distances between towns, and the travelling time for commuters and business people while providing significant reduction in vehicle operating costs as well as increased safety for motorists.   The Project Team must complete functional Planning and Preliminary Design tasks to correspond with the issuance of information to the concession bidders. 

The proposed engineering design work is intended to conclude with the production of preliminary design documentation and a Final Design Brief that will set out the technical requirements that the bidders must adhere to in preparing their concession bids. The Engineering Team is to participate in the bidding process and to assist with the evaluation of technical submissions prior to awarding a concession.

Unique aspects

The highway project includes construction of 134 new structure-grade separation or water bridges, of length varying between 10 and 800 meters and width of bewteen six and thirty meters.  These bridge structures will mainly be consisting of pre-fabricated pre-stressed concrete beam, except for a few higher density bridges that will be constructed with reinforced concrete.  In addition to these bridges, several culberts are planned.  The estimated cost for all bridges and culberts is 147,000,000$ US.

Services provided

• Functional planning :  Design Brief and Functional Planning Report that summarises the recommended alignment, outlines preliminary design criteria and identifies issues to be addressed during the Preliminary Design Stage in the areas of : base mapping & survey, environmental planning, transportation planning, geotechnical investigations, hydrology & hydraulics
  

• Preliminary  design : 1:5,000 scale plan and profile highway drawings showing the project limits ; General arrangement drawings for major bridges and structures ;  standard details and drawings ; conceptual drawings for tolling facilities and ancillary works ; technical standards and material specifications ; geotechnical report; pavement design report ; environmental study report.
  

• Technical services during bid process : Bid review summary indicating bids which meet the technical requirements of the bid document and those areas where bids may be deficient in some technical aspect.