The Christiansted Bypass will be open for traffic beginning Saturday morning by order of Gov. John deJongh, Jr., who on Friday directed the Commissioner of Public Works to open the roadway.
The bypass will be opened at 8 a.m. Saturday.
“I’ve asked that the bypass roadway be opened on Saturday morning to ease the movement of traffic through downtown Christiansted and alleviate the intense congestion that has frustrated motorists since construction began on the current WAPA project,” the governor said in a news release announcing the opening. "Over the next few days, as we begin to move traffic on the bypass roadway, Commissioner Darryl Smalls will make a determination as to whether we must bring in police officers to man the intersections during the rush hours."
DeJongh said a formal opening ceremony is still being planned, but he decided it was time to get traffic flowing over the roadway.
“While we will gather later this month to formally dedicate the bypass project, whose construction has pumped some $30 million into the local economy and marks completion of a major roadway project that has been on the drawing board since the 1970’s, I recognize the urgent need to open the roadway as early as tomorrow to bring about much needed relief to motorists who traverse the downtown Christiansted area each day," he said in Friday’s release. "Additionally, Saturday’s opening of the bypass roadway will allow persons who work, play and do business in downtown St. Croix to traverse the detours caused by the WAPA project with less congestion,” deJongh said.
The WAPA undergrounding project has been snarling Christiansted traffic for months, as crews cut across roads to bury power lines. The project is expected to increase service reliability in the town and reduce the destruction and lengthy restoration process of Christiansted’s electrical distribution system in the event of a hurricane or other major events.
