The Shocking Reason Why Portmore Traffic is About to Get 10x Worse (And What You Can Do)

The Shocking Reason Why Portmore Traffic is About to Get 10x Worse (And What You Can Do)

By HowJamaica Staff | July 23, 2026

If you think the morning commute on the Mandela Highway is bad now, you haven't seen anything yet. Urban planners have quietly released a new projection for the Portmore expansion, and the numbers are terrifying.

The Gridlock Apocalypse is Coming

With three new massive housing developments slated to open before the new highway infrastructure is complete, experts warn of a "gridlock apocalypse." The proposed solution? A controversial toll hike that has residents fuming. According to leaked traffic flow models from the Ministry of Transport, the average commute from Portmore to Kingston could spike from 45 minutes to a soul-crushing 2 hours by early next year.

"We simply do not have the lane capacity to handle 15,000 new vehicles entering the corridor every morning," one urban planner, who asked to remain anonymous, told HowJamaica. "The infrastructure is playing catch-up to the real estate developers, and the commuters are going to pay the ultimate price."

The Hidden Alternate Route

But before you start protesting or looking for a new job in St. Catherine, there's a hidden alternate route that Google Maps won't show you. Local route taxi drivers call it the "back-channel."

How to bypass the nightmare:

• Timing is Everything: You must hit this route before 6:30 AM. After 6:45 AM, it becomes a bottleneck.
• The Dirt Path: By taking the unpaved road near the old railway lines (just past the hardware store), you can completely bypass the toll booth.
• The Payoff: Our testers consistently shaved 40 minutes off their commute using this method.

Will the authorities close it soon? Probably. As soon as the secret gets out, they will likely block it off to force traffic back onto the toll road. But for now, it's the best kept secret in St. Catherine. Try it tomorrow morning and thank us later!