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Red Hook Sidewalk Improvement Project Breaks Ground,
Creates Jobs, Long-Term Economic Benefits
At a groundbreaking ceremony Monday, Governor John P.
de Jongh, Jr. commended the Department of Public Works on launching the Red Hook Sidewalk Improvement Project, the second of several
ARRA-funded transportation projects for St. Thomas and the fourth in the territory. The initiative will revitalize the Red Hook area sidewalks along a .3 mile roadway that runs from the entrance of the National Park Service entry road to the Red Hook Ferry Dock terminal.
“This groundbreaking signals my Administration’s continued focus on economic development as a path forward in providing additional investment in the territory’s infrastructure and moving the economy forward. With this effort and other ARRA projects, we are creating jobs and providing important, long-term economic benefits throughout the territory, while securing needed safety improvements and aesthetic upgrades to our roadways,”
de Jongh said.
The Governor lauded Commissioner Smalls and the Department of Public Works on officially launching this needed roadway reconstruction and safety improvement project, noting, “From the approvals process to the coordination at the federal level, to the hiring of local contractors, this is a tremendous effort that is important to the territory’s future economic development and forward progress.”
At the groundbreaking ceremony, the Chief Executive and Public Works Commissioner Darryl A. Smalls were joined by Property and Procurement Commissioner Lynn Millin
Maduro, Department of Public Works Highway Program Manager Wystan Benjamin, APEX Construction President Joseph Hodge, Federal Highway Administration Assistant Division Administrator Daniel Camacho, and Disadvantage Business Enterprise representative Shelly
Schulterbrandt.
Other ARRA funded transportation projects in the territory include: Route 104 on St. John; portions of the Queen Mary Highway on St. Croix, and the second phase of the Long Bay road project on St. Thomas.
In February 2009 President Barak Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
(ARRA) with a vision to jumpstart local economies, save and create new jobs, and stabilize budgets through investment opportunities that would provide long-term economic benefits.
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