The next phase of work to improve Veterans Drive on St. Thomas received approval from the St. Thomas Coastal Zone Management Committee Tuesday.
The scope of work includes widening parts into a divided, four-lane roadway and paved walkway, which “simultaneously addresses Charlotte Amalie’s congestion and failing infrastructure problems while creating a signature pedestrian-friendly environment,” Public Works Commissioner Derek Gabriel told lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee in February. The upcoming phase of the project covers the part of Veterans Drive from Kronprindsens Tvaer Gade to West Hospital Gade.
“Let’s say you’re by First Bank,” DPW’s highway Program Manager, Jomo McClean, said. “Those two eastbound lanes would essentially remain almost the same, in the same place, except they will be a little bit wider because right now, the lanes are like nine feet and they will not be 11 feet wide. So the two westbound lanes in that area essentially becomes your median, so that’s where you would have your trees …. The existing promenade right by First Bank would now become your two westbound lanes.”
“The water outside of the existing promenade would be a new promenade,” he added. “Roughly 18 to 20 feet out into the water.” Amy Dempsey of the environmental consulting firm Bioimpact said the project will entail dredging 22,008 cubic yards.
McClean told commissioners that the department plans to issue a solicitation for the work by September and begin construction in early 2026.
After approving the Veterans Drive extension, commissioners held a public hearing on the multiagency plan to develop the Savan gut and reduce flooding risks to the Jane E. Tuitt Elementary School and Charlotte Amalie business district.
The project’s first phase involved placing a concrete box culvert under Cutters Gade and was completed in 1989. The planned second phase stalled after estimates exceeded the limits of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Continuing Authorities Program. Tom Gillespie, an engineer working with USACE, said Congress reauthorized the project in 2020. The next phase will involve an approximately 10-foot-wide covered concrete channel extending from Back Street to Tuitt. Three existing bridges will also be replaced. USACE Project Manager Cristina Montenegro Torres said the project salvages 91 homes and 288 commercial and public buildings currently at risk for flooding.
If approved, construction is anticipated to start in 2028 and end in 2032.