"Wake up, everybody, no more sleeping in bed.
"No more back-thinking, time for thinking ahead . . ."
How poignant are the words sung by Teddy Pendergrass over 25 years ago? It seems, when we think about solving our traffic woes in Downtown Charlotte Amalie, we have been studying various approaches to this problem for almost 30 years and still can't seem to get off of square one. More recently, the government of the Virgin Islands has put forth a solution labeled Plan 8 as a cornerstone for solving the traffic problems downtown.
A special interest group which includes the St.Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce has published much rhetoric against Plan 8 incorrectly asserting that:
– It will forever sever the traditional maritime link between the town and the harbor.
– A highway is inconsistent with the character of a Danish town.
– The total project cost for improving the Windward Passage to Raphune Hill corridor is underfunded.
– Construction will disrupt the business district.
I have always found it puzzling why the opponents of Plan 8 continue to talk about Veterans Drive as if it does not already exist. That roadway is almost 50 years old and will very soon be considered historic itself. It has become part of the soul of Charlotte Amalie. You cannot divorce Veterans Drive from Charlotte Amalie. How can improvements to Veterans Drive sever the so-called maritime link when it has been severed for almost 50 years? Anyone who has lived on St. Thomas for more than 15 minutes knows that Veterans Drive narrows to two lanes by Fort Christian, thereby creating a large traffic bottleneck. All the Public Works Department is trying to accomplish is to complete a continuous four-lane roadway from the Windward Passage to Mandela Circle. It is not trying to build an eight-lane highway, as has been falsely stated.
Veterans Drive has been labeled as being inconsistent with the character of a historic Danish town. Again, this statement appears to be made as if the roadway does not presently exist. Many of the buildings which front Veterans Drive from the Windward Passage Hotel to Fort Christian are, in fact, younger than Veterans Drive. Can we refer to International Plaza, Palm Passage, Royal Dane Mall and Chase Manhattan Bank as sterling examples of historical construction or even fine examples of historical Danish architecture? Take a walk downtown sometime and count how many structures you see along the waterfront that were there before the construction of Veterans Drive. Most of the buildings which front Veterans Drive are, in fact, modern improvements. This is not to say that I don't believe Veterans Drive needs improvement. It certainly does. This is why the federal government will be paying for major urban improvements as a part of the Plan 8 project.
These improvements will include a landscaped promenade or boardwalk across the entire length of the project. A new park will be built on the harborside of the roadway as it passes in front of the Legislature building. The park area around Fort Christian and the Legislature building will more than double in size once the road is moved from that area. Vendors Plaza will be rebuilt with uniform West Indian-style bungalows for the vendors. The historical link between Fort Christian and its Barracks Yard building, i.e. the Legislature building, will be re-established once the traffic is removed from between the two. The dilapidated Fort Christian fire station will be relocated to a new, modern facility. Fort Christian and the Legislature building will be renovated. These are just some of the improvements that the federal government considers important as mitigation measures and integral to the success of the project.
The critics of Plan 8 have said the cost of improving the roadway from the Windward Passage Hotel all the way to the top of Raphune Hill is not entirely funded. This is true. A part of the almost $70 million required to do the entire system is in place. This will allow the government to construct a major piece of the system. An important step in the next part of the planning process is to put together a financing plan for the remaining portion of the funding. This will likely involve options such as leveraging the annual highway funding as well as public-private partnerships where applicable. It should be pointed out, though, that another famous underfunded project in St. Thomas was the expansion of the Cyril E. King Airport. If we had taken the approach 25 years ago to wait until all of the funding was in place, I daresay we would still be landing by a pre-World War II hangar at the Harry S. Truman Airport.
The critics of Plan 8 have said it will disrupt business during construction. One reason Plan 8 was adopted by the Public Works Department is that, when compared to other alternatives, it has minimal effect on the business district. This is because most of the construction takes place from the water side and can be staged so that the existing capacity of the roadway will not be affected during the daytime. This is in sharp contrast to the road project six years ago which had a tremendous disruption to downtown businesses while sidewalks were being constructed. That work is completed and need not be repeated.
But to me, the major issue is not whether Plan 8 should be the preferred alternative or not. The major issue is, should we do a roadway solution at all? The alternatives promoted by the Chamber of Commerce seem to suggest that expanding the existing roadway system is not necessary, and that utilizing traffic management alternatives such as park and ride, enhanced public transportation and water taxis will solve the traffic woes of downtown. The chamber presumes the people of the Virgin Islands will support these alternatives to automobiles or that they can even work on our island.
The selection of the type of transportation a person will use to get from one point to another is by and large going to be based upon how mobile that transportation is perceived to be. This is why in a city like Manhattan, many people will select a subway, because it flows on its own route. But, in more suburban or rural applications, as St. Thomas may be considered, the automobile is the preferred choice for mobility.
Public transportation exists here where the density and topography on this island support it. We cannot force it into areas where those two factors do not make it possible. Additionally, public transportation is heavily subsidized by the communities it supports. In recent testimony, Public Works Commissioner Harold Thompson stated that Vitran operations would be severely cut back due to fiscal constraints. How can we expect our financially strapped local government to expand the public transportation system when it cannot even afford the system we have now? That can only be done through increased taxation. Even then, there is no certainty the ridership will increase and use the expanded service.
We should be realistic regarding what can be an expected high level of usage. New York, which has the nation's highest level of public transportation usage, has only 35 percent of its traffic being handled by public transportation. According to 1990 U.S. Census figures, a high level of public transportation use by national standards is 19 percent. In a traffic study done six years ago, the two-lane portion of Veterans Drive took 50 percent more traffic than its designed capacity. Even if we reach the impossible high level of New York City, it will not resolve that traffic bottleneck.
Will park-and-ride work? It presumes car pooling and public transportation. It also presumes you don't have a need for mobility during the work day. How are you going to catch the bus, which does not exist, in the Bolongo Bay area, take your child to school at E. Benjamin Oliver, go to work in downtown Charlotte Amalie, pick your child up (as many parents do) at 2:45 p.m. and get back to work with car pooling and buses? In fact, a fairer question is "who will be the first to make the sacrifice and give up
their car and do this with car pooling and buses?" I doubt any of the critics of the roadway expansion will make this sacrifice. Those vehemently opposed to the roadway improvement project expect all of the rest of us to use public transportation while they continue to use their vehicles.
Water taxis will be viable only for tourist-related traffic. It is unrealistic to presume that everyday working people will park at some remote satellite lot and utilize a water taxi to get into town. It is also unrealistic to presume water taxis will take the bulk of tourism-related traffic. If we were to promote water taxis at that scale, it would severely damage the land-based taxi industry and our beautiful harbor would be cluttered with so many water taxis it would begin to resemble the Floating Boat City of Hong Kong.
The critics of roadway expansion maintain national trends indicate that expanded highways generally reach their capacity upon completion; therefore, we should not expand the road. Once again, we compare national trends that have little or no relation to our particular situation. The primary reason this occurs in the United States is that expanded highways achieve their capacity from induced traffic. This induced traffic comes from other sources and flows onto the improved road, making it reach its designed capacity right away.
Where will this induced traffic on St. Thomas come from? The population is not going to change overnight. If induced traffic comes to Veterans Drive, it will be from the streets in the historic area, such as Main Street and Backstreet. If that happens, those areas, which have some of our most historic structures, can be developed more along the lines of heritage tourism than can be done while they are main traffic arteries. In fact, how can a concept such as the Main Street Mall ever be done if the roadway system is never expanded?
I feel 30 years of studying this problem is long enough. Must we wait for downtown Charlotte Amalie businesses to choke themselves and lose their competitive edge to other tourist destinations before we improve the traffic? Acting Tourism Commissioner Rafael Jackson recently stated the major complaint of tour operators for the hotel and cruise industry is traffic congestion. The airport was studied for over 20 years before the disastrous crash in the 1970s forced us to make a decision. Do we need an economic disaster before we do something? The time for action is now. Do not allow a special interest group to dictate your future. Wake up, everybody!
John P. Woods
St. Thomas
Editor's note: John P. Woods is a principal in the Jaredian Design Group, a consultant to the Public Works Department on the Veterans Drive improvement project.
