June 12, 2003 – The lower part of Route 108, a crumbling and decrepit road that connects lower Bordeaux with Route 10 (Centerline Road), will be undergoing a major overhaul as part of a 10-month project that started Monday, Deputy Public Works Commissioner Ira Wade said on Thursday.
The work on Route 108 (also known as Bordeaux Mountain Road) and on a portion of Route 107 are part of the federally funded $3.81 million road repair, resurfacing and reconstruction project on St. John. The section of Route 107 involved is between the intersection with Centerline Road and the spot where the road connects with the V.I. National Park dirt road to Lameshur.
Wade said on Thursday that work crews on the southeastern section of Bordeaux Mountain Road "are preparing the road, they're repairing the sides of the road, so we can start next Monday" to install culverts.
He said the Route 108 portion of the project includes installation of the culvert to divert water to the sea rather than down the paved road. "It will catch and control the flow of water down Bordeaux Mountain Road," he said. When concrete is put down, the velocity of water flowing down the hill will increase tenfold, he said.
Wade warned that "there's a strong possibility that when we do actually start the culvert work, the southeastern portion — that portion that intersects with Route 107 — may be closed for several hours a day as the heavy equipment works in the area." He said he expects to be able to give the public 24 to 48 hours' notice of such closings.
During such periods, Wade said, Public Works will ask the residents who live at the very southeastern portion of Bordeaux Road to use "what is known as the Gerda Marsh Estate Road, which they have to enter up from Kings Hill Road." He added: "We're going to do our best to minimize the amount of hours that the road is closed, but the public must be warned that there is a strong possibility that there will be some hours, sometime," that the federal route will be closed even to residential traffic.
At other times, Wade said motorists should expect some delays and should watch for people with signal flags. "Pay attention," he advised. When it's necessary to close a stretch of road, emergency vehicles will be stationed on either end of the closure.
For both Routes 107 and 108, he added, "there's a possibility that when we get into the road paving program, we might have to do some work on Sundays." That, he said, is because the freshly laid road surface needs time to cure. "The least amount of traffic that we get on the road after we pave will help insure that the pavement will last a longer time," he said.
Wade said the contractor, V.I. Paving Inc., has until next March to complete the work.
In addition to the work contracted, Wade said, there is still a section nearly a mile long at the upper part of Bordeaux Mountain Road that will still need paving. However, no time frame is set for that project, and it will be undertaken "as funds allow," he said.
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