Traffic disruptions along Queen Street in Christiansted will continue into the new year after the V.I. Water and Power Authority granted its contractor an additional 90 days to complete underground electrical work that has been slowed by equipment delays, historic-preservation requirements and complications encountered while excavating around existing utilities.
The extension moves the contractual completion date from October to January 31, 2027, according to Matthias Clark, a mechanical engineer in WAPA's project department. WAPA's Governing Board considered the matter Thursday as a no-cost time extension to Contract SC-09-26 with Haugland Virgin Islands, according to the authority's published meeting agenda.
“Right now, we’re moving from block to block to try and best manage traffic,” Mr. Clark said, describing efforts to limit the disruption as construction advances along the roughly half-mile stretch of Queen Street.
Several issues have contributed to the delay. Mr. Clark said Haugland's subcontractors initially experienced difficulty obtaining information needed from historic-preservation officials, while a key piece of electrical equipment — switchgear required for the project — is now not expected to arrive until January.
Excavation itself has also proved more difficult than anticipated because crews are working around existing infrastructure beneath the roadway. “We’ve had to hand dig around existing utilities. We’ve impacted quite a few of them, both sanitary and water….so it was quite a learning experience,” Mr. Clark recounted. “This entire stretch has a notable amount of challenges that we’re realizing as we go.”
The Queen Street project replaces overhead electrical infrastructure with an underground distribution system, including concrete-encased duct banks, manholes, handholes, pad-mounted switchgear, sectionalizing and metering cabinets, and transformers. WAPA says the work is intended to improve reliability and strengthen the system against storms and other disruptions.
The approximately $4.8 million project is supported through the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, according to the V.I. Office of Disaster Recovery. Construction has required phased road closures through Christiansted, with crews moving section by section and traffic detoured around active work zones. WAPA said last month that work was taking place Monday through Saturday as the project moved farther along Queen Street.
Although the contract had an October completion date, WAPA had already publicly indicated earlier this year that construction was anticipated to continue into January 2027. In a May announcement preceding the start of work, the authority said the project was expected to be completed by January. The newly approved extension therefore formally moves the contractor's deadline into the timeframe WAPA had previously presented publicly.
The six-day construction schedule will not continue uninterrupted through the end of the year. Mr. Clark said work will be scaled back around major holiday periods, with approximately one week allotted around Thanksgiving and two weeks during the Christmas Festival season.
Even with the extension, January 31 may not necessarily mark the end of all contract activity. Mr. Clark said another time extension could be required to close out the contract depending on when the delayed switchgear arrives.
That possibility is complicated by what Mr. Clark described as a February 1 federal deadline. WAPA has requested an extension from FEMA but has not yet received a response, he said. “It’s a waiting game essentially for this switchgear,” Mr. Clark said.
In the meantime, the authority is trying to complete as much of the remaining construction as possible before the equipment arrives. WAPA said Friday that its board had advanced the Queen Street project alongside several other resilience initiatives and identified it as one of three undergrounding projects currently underway across the territory. The authority said eight other undergrounding projects have already been completed.
The work is part of a longer effort to move vulnerable electrical infrastructure underground in Christiansted's historic district. The Consortium previously reported that the project underwent Historic Preservation Committee review because excavation and other work would take place within the historic town, requiring additional safeguards as construction proceeded.
