Work began Monday on the Centerline Road repairs and, while crews from Island Roads are attacking the worst spot, drivers will encounter traffic lights on both sides of the project to facilitate traffic through the one lane that remains open.
Pam Gaffin, who lives just below the worst washed-out area, said she was ecstatic that the project finally started.
“I’m very encouraged they want to do it right,” she said.
Gaffin said she got a call from the contractor and from Public Works Department staff to let her know the project would begin Monday.
Public Works Commissioner Darryl Smalls did not return a phone call requesting comment on the project’s start.
Gaffin said she understands the project, which includes work on two other less-damaged sections of Centerline Road, will take nine months.
According the Gaffin, Island Roads will first build a temporary wooden retaining wall to hold back the earth so the machine can dig deep enough to put in a permanent concrete retaining wall.
Centerline Road started crumbling downhill after Hurricane Otto hit in 2010. It got worse after the May 2013 rains.
The more than $1 million repair project has been plagued with delays. Work was supposed to begin in September, but bureaucratic issues caused delays, Public Works Commissioner Darryl Smalls said several times when asked about when the project would begin.
Smalls said previously that the efforts to bring significant improvements to Centerline Road date back almost two years to January 2012 when the Federal Highway Administration granted its initial approval for the reconstruction of the damaged sections of the roadway.
