Kingston, Jamaica — As the holiday rush looms, the Government has rolled out a $1.6 billion emergency road initiative designed to target Jamaica’s most critical and battered roadways — offering drivers a long-overdue reprieve from pothole-laden commutes.
Dubbed the Graded Overlay Emergency Road Rehabilitation (GO) Programme, the new effort will focus on corridors where water damage, potholes, and general deterioration have made driving hazardous, particularly on routes that connect key towns, supply chains, and emergency service access points.
While many may draw comparisons to the $3-billion REACH initiative launched earlier this year following Hurricane Beryl, Works Minister Robert Morgan made it clear: this is not a continuation. The GO Programme, he emphasized, is a standalone offensive aimed at rapid-impact resurfacing, not long-term reconstruction.
Accelerated by Crisis
The GO Programme’s rollout was fast-tracked in the wake of Hurricane Melissa, which added to a growing list of storm-related damages across the island’s road network. According to Morgan, many of the affected roads were already in a state of decline, with urgent patching now a necessity rather than a choice.
“You’re going to have to patch roads whether you like it or not,” Morgan remarked. “The GO Programme emerged because we understand we can’t fix everything right now — but we can’t ignore the worst of it either.”
Initial works have already begun in the Corporate Area, with West Kings House Road among the first to be addressed. Priority areas for further rollout include St Elizabeth, Clarendon, St James, Trelawny, Hanover, Westmoreland, and sections of St Ann — regions where road conditions have increasingly disrupted both daily life and commercial activity.
Layered Approach to Road Recovery
Implementation of the GO Programme falls under the National Works Agency (NWA) and will be executed in phases. The first leg, already underway, is set to continue through the New Year, with additional work packages to follow in early 2026.
The GO effort forms part of a broader matrix of infrastructure programmes, all targeting different aspects of the national road problem. Morgan pointed to the $45-billion SPARK Programme — a larger-scale rehabilitation project focused on community and main roads — which has already seen 62 roads completed, 58 more underway, and another 27 mobilized.
According to Morgan, “We’re aiming for 280 completed roads by March 2026 under SPARK alone. So far, about $5 billion has been spent, with much of it going to major corridors.”
Public Expectations vs. National Strategy
The Minister was frank about the public perception challenge: not everyone will see repairs on their frequently travelled routes, and criticism is inevitable. But he made it clear the focus is on strategic development, not chasing popularity.
“You’re never going to win on roads,” Morgan said. “You win on development.”
The roadmap laid out by the Ministry now spans multiple programmes — REACH, GO, SPARK, and the steady work of the NWA — all of which are intended to function as interlocking parts of a long-term national upgrade.
For Jamaicans tired of axle-breaking potholes and unpredictable detours, the message is simple: relief is coming — not all at once, but methodically, region by region, through a mix of emergency triage and larger infrastructure investments.
