Two years of extra traffic congestion near Mandela Circle might have been worth it now that the new four-lane Frenchman’s Bay Road has opened, and residents driving through the area over the weekend said they are looking forward to seeing, come Monday, what the changes will bring.
The project is the final phase of an approximately $37 million highway system that stretches from Lover’s Lane, down Centerline Road and up past Havensight. While the Lover’s Lane phase broke ground in 2007, the Frenchman’s Bay Road phase started in 2012 and has included everything from landscaping to installing new box culverts below the surface of the road to alleviate flooding in the area.
“Yesterday, Innovative was also out there aggressively removing all of the overhead phone lines, which have been placed underground, and the V.I. Water and Power Authority we all know had worked to do the same with their lines, so now all the businesses in the area are again hooked up to both,” Public Works Commissioner Darryl Smalls explained to the Source Sunday evening. “Then, over the next couple of weeks, workers will continue to be out there, so the next thing you’re going to see are those barricades coming down in the special turning lane from the West Indian Company to Kmart.”
Smalls added that the last part of the work also includes getting all traffic lights in the area synced so that they work with the flow of traffic and crossing pedestrians. New signals have also been installed near Al Cohen’s Plaza to help deal with traffic moving in and out of the plaza and around Havensight.
“For the final completion of the traffic lights, we anticipate that will be done within the next 60 days,” Smalls said.
“I know that the completion of this project has been much anticipated, everyone has waited a long time for it,” he added. “We are also really excited to finally see it finish up.”
Residents driving through the area Sunday also said that they are relieved the project is finally complete. The purpose of the work was to thin down the traffic running through Havensight and Mandela Circle, and many also said they are looking forward to seeing if that happens.
“When I came through here yesterday, I was excited because it’s open,” St. Thomas resident Patrice Smith said Sunday. “It looks great and I like it because it’s bigger so hopefully, there won’t be so much traffic because every time you come through here, the traffic is piled up for hours. I want to see if it helps on those days when the cruise ships are in and we have a lot more cars and taxis on the road.”
Smalls said the next step for Public Works is the Waterfront safety and beautification project, which will also expand the lanes running from the Lucinda Millin Home down and around the Legislature from two to four. Waterfront improvements will extend down to Windward Passage, he added.
