The State of the Roads FEMA to the Rescue

Editorial

The one sure thing that is known about the unpredictability of the hurricane season in the USVI, whether the season be disastrous, bad, or just passable, is that it will always bring about a great deal of rain. The one sure thing we know about a great deal of rain on St. Croix is that it will always bring about a further deterioration of the roads. So the question that immediately pops into the mind at this time of the year is, what is the current state of the St. Croix roads as they come face 

to face with what surely seems to be their worse enemy: The Rain. 

Let’s take the problem a step further and explore a few questions many STX drivers are tired of asking themselves while traversing the roads of St. Croix:

1. How many new potholes have recently popped up?

2. Where are they located?

3. How bad are they?

4. How many old ones have gotten a lot worse since the hurricane season began? 

5. How many flat tires must one patch up before the potholes get fixed?

   
   

Of course when you think deeply into the crux of the problem, you have to wonder 

if “The Rain” really is the worst enemy of 

the roads? Because if you hear the average 

voice on the street tell it, there may be other 

contributing culprits. So let’s take a minute 

and examine who the other culprits might be.

First off, who are the players? Player

1. Well, of course it’s The Rain. Blame it on the rain, so the song goes. Easy one to point a finger at. No one can stop it from falling. Yelling at it does absolutely no good.

2. The Department of Public Works (DPW). Another easy one to blame. Lots and lots of employees. Easy to point a finger at any number of them. Easy to say they are not doing their job. Player

3. Commissioner Derrick Gabriel, the head of DPW.  It’s always easy to blame the Boss. That’s where the buck is supposed to stop. Player

4. Governor Albert Bryan Jr. and his entire administration.  People blame everything on the Governor. Current Governor. Past Governors. No matter what Governor might be in office, they’re always an easy one to pin the blame. Because what’s the Gov going to do? He has to stand there and listen. That’s his job. It’s written right into his oath of office. Stand there and listen. After all, he works for the taxpayer, doesn’t he? Player

5. The Legislature. The Senators. All of them. Another easy target to blame. 

But here’s the thing, the pot-hole problem on St. Croix has existed for years, decades even. Whether it be those little potholes that make you grind your teeth in anger, or those big ones that jolt your brain and make you wonder if  they could swallow you and your car whole and dump you into the sea below. 

Still, is it fair to say that nobody cares about the pothole problem? Or perhaps they are not aware of its severity? Neither of those assumptions could possibly be true. All the players mentioned above have cars. They all drive over, around, and into the same potholes the Average Joe does… So what gives? What really is the crux of the problem when it comes to fixing the potholes? 

When it comes right down to it, it is the cost of asphalt that causes all the feet dragging. Asphalt: That ugly, black gunk that is used to fill the potholes. The availability of it is certainly not the problem. But the current sky high cost of that ugly black gunk is exactly what is the problem. 

St. Croix was supposed to get its own asphalt plant out of the refinery deal several years ago, but that deal apparently went south for whatever reasons. Of course, when you spend $4 Billion (Billion with a capital B) to start-up a refinery and still don’t get it right after several years of trying, an agreement to build an asphalt plant kind of gets lost in the enormous pile of catastrophic financial mess.

But now FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) has made a major commitment toward repaving the roads across St. Croix. They have pledged $3.2 billion to rebuild the potable water distribution system, replace the utility’s metering infrastructure and repave the STX roads. The St. Croix Island- Wide Unified Road Paving Project with a FEMA obligation of $1.75 billion consolidates Public Assistance funding to allow the Territory to repair over 481 miles of the island’s roads, including curbs, culverts, and ramps that comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), where required by code. FEMA states the road paving project would start after the replacement of St. Croix’s potable water, wastewater and electric underground systems are completed.  

So, help is on the way. FEMA to the rescue. Just don’t drop your ‘pothole vigilante’ ways so fast. Wait until they finish laying the new roads. Then you can ride around on the smooth new pothole-less surface. Until then feel free to blame whoever you want to blame. But let’s give credit where credit is due. FEMA didn’t just send a drone over the Territory and decide it was time to fix the roads. DPW’s Commissioner Gabriel, Governor Bryan Jr., and the Legislature, had to spend a lot of time bending a lot of Washington ears to get that kind of commitment out of FEMA.              

So, Commissioners come and go, Senators come and go, Governors come and go. But it’s the ones that get the job done during their term in office that makes the difference. 

By the way, is it raining out today?