DPW plans to issue bid packages for repairs to this crumbling section of Fish Bay Road, above and below.
While Coral Bay residents were celebrating the start of repair work on Centerline Road last week, Fish Bay residents were wondering what happened to fixing the road in their neighborhood.
A section of Fish Bay Road was damaged at the same time as several sections of Centerline Road in October 2010 during Tropical Storm Otto. At the time, Department of Public Works officials began the long process of applying for Federal Highway Administration funding to fix the damaged sections of the roads.
Although DPW officials were in contact with residents who live near the damaged area of Fish Bay Road over the more than a year it took get FHA approval, the section of road was not included in the project which was finally approved in January 2012.
“I never said what area were included or not included in the project,” said DPW Commissioner Smalls. “I’ll be honest with you, I just knew it as ‘areas that were impacted’ that FHA approved the reconstruction for. That area [Fish Bay Road] was not included and perhaps it didn’t meet the threshold.”
While it remained unclear why the damaged area of Fish Bay Road was not included in the FHA project, DPW is ready to issue additional bid packages for road work to fix the area, Smalls told St. John Tradewinds on Friday afternoon, January 17.
“I just signed off on three additional bid packages for road work,” said Smalls. “They should be advertised this coming week or, if not, then the next. That work includes Fish Bay Road.”
Details of those road work bid packages were not available as of press time, but more information on plans to fix the damaged area of Fish Bay Road is expected this week.
