Roundabout Construction Ahead of Schedule

The Department of Public Works and contractor Island Roads have encountered little to no snags during the year-long construction of the Cruz Bay roundabout, and thanks to this smooth sailing, the project could be finished six months ahead of its scheduled completion date of June 2010.

 

Crews are close to completing the burying of all utility lines in the area, with just a small amount of work left on Route 104 by Boulon Center and on Centerline Road in front of Dolphin Market.

“We’re getting down to the wire now,” said DPW Materials Program Manager Thomas Jones. “Once we get those two runs of electric in on 104 and in front of Dolphin Market, we’ll be done with the utility work.”

Burying the utilities has gone much more smoothly than anticipated, especially on Centerline Road heading west into Cruz Bay.

“We did not know what we were going to get into by the school,” said Jones. “We thought it was going to be a lot more difficult than it was. The contractor kept the traffic one way, and had stop lights in place during the off hours, when the flaggers weren’t there.”

Work on Centerline Road in front of Dolphin Market also proved unproblematic for DPW, Jones continued.

“I thought it would be a major, major issue,” he said. “When we moved the road over, that just gave us so much more room. We hardly disrupted traffic at all.”

As Island Roads wraps up utility work, the contractor will continue regrading the roundabout’s five points of entry and get the roads ready for asphalt.

Centerline in front of Dolphin Market will likely see the most change during this phase, as the road needs to drop approximately six feet. Route 104 in front of Boulon Center will be lowered approximately one foot.

Once grading is completed, the roundabout will be at a 4 percent slope, according to Jones.

DPW does not anticipate any major road closures in the future; however, the stop lights may be implemented again during utility work on Route 104. Jones remains optimistic that the project will finish well ahead of schedule, he explained.

“We’re still extremely ahead of schedule,” said Jones. “The contractor is really trying hard to get out of there before the next tourism season.”