A video posted to social media last week elicited a fresh wave of concern for students, teachers and residents who have to cross a decaying, hole-ridden bridge spanning a section of Spring Gut Road on St. Croix.
The video depicted honeycombs of corrosion throughout the bridge’s surface, which staff at the nearby Seventh-day Adventist School had put down years ago as a temporary fix. School buses no longer cross, and school staff have had to walk students down the public road for pickup.
“It’s become scary for people,” said Lewis Luke, the school’s grounds and maintenance professional, who added that large vehicles like water haulers and dump trucks still use the bridge despite a nearby sign specifying that only vehicles under a certain weight can cross. In his 13 years with the school, Luke said he’s had to keep vegetation near the bridge in check and clear debris to prevent even more corrosion.
Luke and other school staff who spoke to the Source Tuesday said they’ve made regular requests for the V.I. Public Works Department to assess or fix the bridge.
Janetta Johnson-Thomas, who teaches core subjects for sixth graders as well as math and agriculture for seventh graders, said the conditions have become so bad that she sometimes wishes she didn’t have to come into work.
“I’m literally scared. When I saw it the last time, I literally was saying we had to maybe have a demonstration — and just chicken out and don’t come to school — because the last thing I would want is, I’m on the bridge and then for some part to just cave in and my vehicle hanging downside or something goes through my windscreen,” she said, picturing a worst-case scenario. “I’m literally scared to drive on the bridge.”
The bridge also has parents worried, including Home and School Association President Kathleen O’Garro.
“It’s very nerve-wracking because at any time, something could happen — and not just for us here, but there’s a whole community across the way as well,” she said. “And there are children there, there are adults, seniors and so on, who traverse this day in and day out.”
DPW did not respond to emailed questions from the Source, but Seventh-day Adventist principal Jacinta Berthier said the department had reached out to the school in the wake of the latest viral video. According to a notice published in the Virgin Islands Daily News, Public Works announced installation of the temporary bridge in November 2016. The notice restricted vehicle weight to cars and trucks under 10,000 pounds.
