With lots of new federal cash for road projects this year, the territory can expect to see lots of projects going simultaneously over the next year or two, and residents may need to be patient with traffic disruptions as the work progresses.
In Senate budget hearings Monday, Public Works Commissioner Darryl Smalls briefed legislators, noting the impact of federal stimulus and local bond funds on the department’s projects. For 2010, Gov. John deJongh Jr. has recommended a $28.8 million General Fund appropriation for Public Works, Smalls testified. This is a modest, $563,000 decrease from the 2009 General Fund appropriation. In addition to that, Public Works expects regular federal highway funds of $19.5 million, the same amount as last year and nearly the same as the year before.
Add to that $2.3 million from the miscellaneous section of the budget, and Public Works’ total department budget for 2010 comes to $51 million. However this year the federal stimulus act is injecting another $18.7 million for specific road projects in the territory. Meanwhile, the department is also busy planning and overseeing a number of capital-improvement projects approved as part of a recent $87 million dollar bond bill issued by the V.I. government.
Both those and the handful of projects being paid for by federal stimulus funds are in addition to the department’s already heavy schedule of ongoing and soon-to-start road and other capital projects. This may try the patience of some, but will ultimately mean big improvements to the territory’s infrastructure, Smalls said.
"We recognize that with only two paving companies in the St. Croix district and three in the St. Thomas-St. John district, we are limited in the number of projects that can be done concurrently," Smalls said. "In light of the multitude of projects currently underway or soon to be, there will be significant road projects throughout the territory being performed simultaneously for an extended period of time."
Most of the stimulus money allocated to roadwork goes to the District of St. Thomas and St. John. On St. Thomas, $7.7 million in stimulus money will go to repave and add drainage to Long Bay Road from Lucinda Millin Home to the Yacht Haven Grande exit, and $900,000 for sidewalk and safety improvements from Eudora Kean High School to Redhook Ferry Terminal. On St. John, $4.8 million will pay for work on Gift Hill Road from the Westin Hotel to Susanaburg.
On St. Croix, $4.8 million will repave and add drainage to the Queen Mary Highway from Hanna’s Rest to Sunshine Mall, and Peter’s Rest to Contentment.
Another half a million dollars will go to add guardrails, pavement markings and signs throughout the territory.
Public Works has recently received two new, much larger, state-of-the-art road-striping machines, one for each district. It expects a shipment of the special thermoplastic reflective road paint in August and painting should begin on roads all over the territory not long after, Smalls said.
Public transportation is getting some help, too. The Federal Transit Administration awarded Public Works $1.3 million in stimulus funding to build handicapped-accessible bus shelters with solar-powered lighting throughout the territory, Smalls said. The VITRAN public-transportation system that Public Works operates also received a separate $392,000 federal grant to purchase two new 30-foot, 16-passenger buses to add to its fleet, and Public Works will buy up to eight total, depending on bids and final cost.
Asked by Sen. Alvin Williams when new buses will actually roll on the territory’s streets, Small said sometime in 2010.
"Once there is a contract in place, it takes a minimum of six months for the buses to be constructed," he said.
Sen. Craig Barshinger asked when the stimulus-funded sidewalk work from Red Hook to Eudora Kean High School would be done, saying it was unsafe for students to walk on the road from the ferry to the school.
Smalls said it was a matter of having the Water and Power Authority install utilities before work begins.
"We did not want to install sidewalks first and have WAPA come in afterwards and remove them to install utilities," he said. Meanwhile, the department has prohibited parking on the side of the road, so there is at least more room to walk, Smalls said.
Road work, school renovations and other Public Works projects were also discussed at length. No votes were taken during the information-gathering budget hearing. Present were Barshinger and Williams, along with Sens. Carlton "Ital" Dowe, Nereida "Nellie" Rivera-O’Reilly, Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg, Terrence Positive Nelson and Louis Patrick Hill.
