Good Afternoon and Happy Fri-YAY! This morning was a whirlwind of getting some drafts ready for next week, but I wanted to take a quick moment to share two joyous updates with you about the roads on St. John before I hit the on the water “work” on Asante for the weekend!
Ok, if you have been on island over the past four-ish months, you have FELT our pain! The stormwater runoff project in front of the Marketplace resulted in a LOT of delays and interesting use of traffic lights this past little bit. Well, after a last hurrah of keeping motorists backed up for close to 20 minutes at a pass on Wednesday morning (I know this because I was one of them!), the traffic lights have been removed and the traffic is flowing smoothly! The road is not only passable now, but in great condition. And, hopefully, this rainy season, we won’t see any more of the notorious flooding in this area thanks to the hard work of the VI Government and A Cut Above road crews!
Additionally, I told you last week about some growing pains we would be experiencing on Centerline over the next several months. In the interim since that last post, a lot of grading of the “major” roadway between Pastory and Gifft Hill took the pothole situation from bad to worse. But, last night we headed towards town from Gifft Hill and, man oh man, the completed portions of the stretch they are working on were smooth like butter! I felt like I was driving down a highway in the states. For a few minutes anyway 🙂
There is still a lot of work yet to be done, so continue to be on the lookout for the workers on the roads and drive with caution…Well, just about everywhere on island. Here’s hoping that by next winter all of the
Any-who, I just wanted to take a moment to give our island administrator, Shikima Jones-Sprauve, and the hardworking crews a little pat on the back and a big thank you! And to give all of you a little bit of positive news from Love City. It’s the little things right? Have a great weekend all! And stay tuned next week for some exciting news.
This was a great update. I’m a long time resident of St. John. With the substantial increase in tourism we’ve noticed more dangerous driving conditions on the island. As I tell my family, you have to assume every time you are driving that a head on collision is possible. Many, many drivers think their lane is the middle of the road. We’ve had many near misses. I suggest the island paint or repaint the yellow center lines. Many existing center lines have faded away or many roadways have no center lines. I don’t know if the island has statistics on car accidents but I have to believe there’s been a significant increase with the over-crowded conditions on St. John.
The road down to Frank Bay has also been totally closed from 8 AM to 5 PM all this past week, and as I write, also Saturday. They are working hard to install the big boxes where the electrical lines come in from St. Thomas. Coconut Coast Studios and P and P restaurant are the only business that have been affected. We are hopeful that this inconvenience for all will soon be over.
I am a long-time resident as well, and am a little leery of the depth of the drop-off on the downhill side of certain sections on the fresh-makeup, lookin’ good on top, of Centerline. Also won’t the road water runoff on uphill side eventually run underneath and undermine these improvements?
On my ‘wish list” would be several “Roadside Pullover XX ft Ahead’ be useful suggestion to warn unknowing tourists that a spot is coming up where they can shed the tailgating local, in a tremendous hurry to be on time for something, and lessen the dangerous practice of locals passing blind because they think they ‘know’ the road. What’s wrong with being helpful?