The government plans to dualise two heavily trafficked roads in Kingston in a move that could ease congestion amid increased housing and commercial development along one of the capital’s busiest corridors.
The works include upgrading a “2.8-kilometre stretch” comprising East King’s House Road and Lady Musgrave Road. It will be widened from two lanes to four, minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Infrastructure Development, Robert Morgan, said in a summary provided to the Financial Gleaner. The works were initially planned back in 2022.
The works also includes “drainage improvements; widening of three box culverts along the route; water and sewerage upgrades; the installation of fibre optic ducts for broadband connectivity; turning lanes at key intersections; provision of new traffic signals with pedestrian facilities; provision of kerbed grass median barrier and raised concrete sidewalks; installation of streetlighting, markings, and signage; and rationalizing of access points and U-turns along the corridor,” the brief stated.
Morgan said final Cabinet approval, via the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, for the project to enter the Public Sector Investment Programme is expected by August 31, 2026.
Traffic gridlock in the capital has been a source of frustration for road-users for years, compounded by a wave of large commercial developments along the corridor over the past decade. These include the corporate offices of Proven, CPJ Market, 80 LMR, a mix of corporate and professional offices with popular dining spots, the AC Hotel, the upcoming Image Plus Consultants facility, and most recently the US$15.5 million mixed-use Roger Commercial Complex.
The downside of that development is that on weekday afternoons, motorists can spend hours traversing this corridor and adjacent roads, such as Trafalgar Road, Hope Road and Old Hope Road, particularly after rainfall.
Last November, outgoing National Works Agency CEO EG Hunter argued that Kingston’s gridlock stems largely from a transport system built around private vehicles rather than mass transit.
Morgan said the project will deliver a “100-per-cent increase in physical road capacity”; 38 per cent less travel time; a 40-per-cent reduction in vehicle emissions; a 75-per-cent reduction in traffic accidents, largely head-on collisions resulting in fatalities or serious injuries; improved water supply and sanitation via infrastructure with a forecast useful life of 60 years; and 5,600 metres of fibre optic ducts to support broadband connectivity and smart city upgrades, including synchronised traffic signals.
Additional benefits include “increased mobility and connectivity across the Kingston Metropolitan Area; and improved efficiency of the KMA road network via the redistribution of heavy traffic from other north-south corridors, such as Waterloo Road and Constant Spring Road,” Morgan said.
The East King’s House/Lady Musgrave Road project is one of six Special Capital Expenditure projects targeting strategic high-traffic corridors in the Corporate Area and St Catherine, first announced by Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness in the 2023-24 budget.
In June 2025, Morgan said the six projects, which would affect 1.2 million Jamaicans, would cost $16 billion collectively.
However, in his summary shared with the Financial Gleaner, Morgan said the East King’s House/Lady Musgrave project “is not yet put to tender and hence the confidential in-house Engineer’s Estimate would not be shared at this time”.
