Holness Opens $230 Million Troy Bridge Restoring Manchester-Trelawny Link

Prime Minister Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness on Friday, June 5, formally opened the newly built Troy Bridge, a $230 million crossing on the Troy to Oxford main road along the Manchester-Trelawny border.

The project brings back an important route that was destroyed during Tropical Storm Grace in 2021 and ends almost five years of difficulty for residents, farmers and students in nearby districts.

At the commissioning ceremony, Dr. Holness said the event should not be seen only as the delivery of a construction project. He said the bridge represented restored “connection, resilience, and dignity” for the people who depend on the corridor daily.

“We gather to celebrate the opening of a bridge. But in truth, we are celebrating something much greater than a bridge. We are celebrating reconnection. We are celebrating resilience. We are celebrating the triumph of persistence over delay,” the Prime Minister stated.

He added, “for the people of this area, the Troy Bridge is not simply a physical structure, it is part of the history of this community and part of the story of Jamaica itself.”

Dr. Holness said the loss of the previous bridge after Tropical Storm Grace affected far more than convenience. According to him, it interrupted the lives of many people, with students having to take much longer routes to school and farmers facing higher costs to move produce to market.

“It took us almost five years to build a replacement bridge. Why did the bridge take so long to be fixed? Well, the answer lies in the systems governments use to ensure that public funds are spent [responsibly] over many decades,” Dr. Holness explained.

He noted that the old bridge was put up in 1869 by the colonial government and survived several major hurricanes across more than 150 years. The Prime Minister said he expects the new structure to serve the area for a similarly long period.

“Let Troy be a lesson to Jamaica. This bridge now stands as a symbol of renewal, a symbol of the importance of infrastructure in national development and perhaps, most importantly, a symbol of our determination to build a Jamaica where government works, not only carefully but effectively, not only responsibly but urgently, not only according to process, but in service of the people,” Dr. Holness underscored.

Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Infrastructure Development, with responsibility for Works, Hon. Robert Morgan, said the opening restores a route that has served residents, students, farmers, taxi operators, businesses and emergency services for many years.

Mr. Morgan said that, during visits to the community over the years, residents repeatedly told him about the strain caused by the absence of the crossing.

He described the bridge as a major use of taxpayers’ money intended to serve generations to come, and thanked residents for bearing with the process while the work was being done.

“We’re not just marking the completion of a project, we’re reconnecting communities and restoring access and, more importantly, we’ve built a bridge [designed] to last,” he underscored.

For residents who attended the opening, the value of the bridge was immediate and personal. Icilyn Robinson, who lives in the area, said she was happy to see the work finished, adding that the bridge will make it easier for people to move between nearby communities to buy food and carry out business.

She said the new structure is an improvement residents had been waiting on for a long time and will make everyday life better for people in both Trelawny and Manchester.