Gov't to provide motorists WAZE to avoid traffic nightmares

Stuck in traffic? There could soon be a way out.

Jamaican motorists are set to get a powerful new weapon in the battle against traffic jams, roadworks and unexpected delays, with the National Works Agency (NWA) teaming up with global navigation giant Waze.

The landmark partnership is expected to put real-time, verified information about Jamaica's roads at motorists' fingertips, allowing them to see potential trouble ahead and, where possible, change course before getting caught in the gridlock.

The NWA announced the partnership on its social media platform X on Monday.

Waze is a free, crowd-sourced GPS navigation app that provides live driving directions, traffic updates and reports of road hazards. The Google-owned platform combines GPS data from users' phones with information submitted by motorists in real time.

And according to Stephen Shaw, NWA manager of communication and customer services, the partnership is about more than simply finding the fastest route — it is about giving motorists information they can trust.

Shaw said the agency wanted to ensure that information about roadworks, planned events and other disruptions reaching motorists is verified and legitimate.

“Information that is verified, that is legitimate, to do with things like roadworks, events that are planned and would have been routed through the NWA, anything that is likely to cause an impact on persons' travels, we intend on having placed in the public space in a way that is verifiable,” Shaw said.

He said the partnership would also help tackle the problem of misinformation about road conditions.

“Because misinformation goes around from time to time, you know? But us partnering with Waze, it adds a certain amount of legitimacy, or it certainly gives legitimacy generally to the information that is being placed there,” he said.

For motorists, the biggest benefit could be knowing about a traffic nightmare before driving straight into it.

Shaw said the initiative will provide road users with more information to plan their journeys and give them greater certainty when travelling from one point to another.

“What it will do is assist persons with, certainly with more information that to use, to plan their trips. You have a little bit more certainty in relation to going from point A to point B,” he said.

He pointed to a motorist travelling from Manor Park to downtown Kingston as an example.

If there is an obstruction or roadwork on Half-Way-Tree Road, the driver could receive the information and choose another route instead of discovering the problem only after reaching the affected area.

“So it is very important for persons in respect of their time, and time is money,” Shaw said.

Under the partnership, motorists will be able to access information on planned road closures and detours, active construction zones, work disruptions, traffic rerouting, crashes, hazards and changing road conditions.

For thousands of Jamaicans who spend hours battling congestion each day, the message is simple — the next traffic jam could be one they see coming.

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