Josephine Warns Passersby To Be Aware of Splashing Concrete at Grande Bay Resort

Josephine Roller, co-owner of Coral Bay Garden Center, was driving this company truck by the Grande Bay Resort construction site when she and the vehicle were splashed with concrete on Wednesday morning, July 12.

As the luxury-condominium development Grande Bay Resort progresses, one resident has a message for people who pass by the construction site located directly across from Cruz Bay beach — be careful.

Construction of the 48-unit project has moved to the lower buildings, and the close proximity to the beachfront road has increased the chance of a construction accident at the busy site involving passing vehicular traffic or pedestrians traveling between Cruz Bay and the Gallows Point neighborhood.

Splashed with Concrete
“I was driving from the Stone Terrace to Gallows Point delivering goods on Wednesday mor-ning, July 12,” said Jose-phine Roller, owner of the Coral Bay Garden Center and Josephine’s Greens. “As I was passing by Grande Bay I had my window down and got splashed with concrete.”

“It splashed outside and inside my truck,” Roller continued. “It was in my eye and all over my truck.”

Workers at the site were helpful and attempted to wash the concrete off the truck, Roller explained.

“They were very nice and washed my truck,” she said. “But I still had concrete all over my truck and on my tools in the back of my truck. My eye was also burning really badly.”

Medical Treatment Needed
Roller had to spend two and a half hours at Myrah Keating Smith Community Health Center getting her eye flushed and treated. Roller also returned to the health center the following day and will be seeing a specialist to make sure that she will not lose her sight.

Although what happened to her is serious, Roller said there is a potential for even worse accidents at the site.

“I was in pain, but I will be OK,” she said. “But what if a child was walking by and really got hurt?”

“There are so many dangerous things that can happen over there, I just want people to be aware of this,” Roller added. “I was just driving by and this happened to me.”

Construction companies are responsible for instituting mitigation efforts to prevent possible danger to the public, according to the Department of Planning and Natural Resources (DPNR) spokesperson Jamal Nielsen.

Inspection Agency Hired
“An inspection agency has been hired to ensure that construction crews are taking meassures to keep the public safe when they are working near public roads,” said Nielsen. “It’s up to the construction crews, but the agency will be checking.”

Officials from the construction managing company running the Grande Bay site, Breckenridge Custom Homes, said workers try to stop traffic on the road if there is any dangerous activity occurring, according to the company’s General Manager Bill Terry.

Flagmen in Place
“We have flagmen on the road that are doing traffic control,” he said. “If something dangerous is going on, they’ll hold up traffic until it’s done.” Terry did not, however, comment on the concrete splash that hit Roller.

“In this particular case, I can’t tell you exactly what happened,” he said. “If it happened, I don’t know.”

Roller was definitely splashed with concrete in front of the Grande Bay site, and she im-plores the community to use caution when driving past the construction area.

Use Caution
“They really need precautions there,” said Roller. “There is so much equipment there, it’s very dangerous. People need to know to be careful when driving along the road there.”