The Federal Highway Administration has allocated approximately $5.65 million in emergency relief funding to the U.S. Virgin Islands for repairs associated with Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017 and Tropical Storm Ernesto in 2024, according to federal transportation records reviewed by the Consortium.
The allocation, authorized in an October 22 memorandum for fiscal year 2027, includes $3,120,988.03 for highway damage associated with the two 2017 hurricanes and $2,533,062.78 for damage from Tropical Storm Ernesto, which struck the territory in August 2024.
The Federal Highway Administration's allocation schedule identifies the two disaster events separately, assigning the 2017 hurricanes the emergency relief designation VI17-1 and Tropical Storm Ernesto the designation VI24-2.
In the accompanying memorandum, Gina Ahlstrom, acting director of FHWA's Office of Stewardship, Oversight, and Management, authorized federal highway divisions to obligate the allocated money. The funds are assigned to specific disasters and cannot be transferred between the two events.
The authorization does not establish that the full amount has been obligated to individual projects or disbursed to the territorial government.
The funding comes through the Federal Highway Administration's Emergency Relief Program, which helps repair roads, bridges, culverts and other eligible federal-aid highway infrastructure damaged by natural disasters and catastrophic events.
The new allocation comes as the V.I. Department of Public Works continues pursuing repairs associated with Tropical Storm Ernesto. As the Consortium reported in October, department officials told lawmakers that FHWA had approved bid packages for replacement of a box culvert in Estate Bonne Resolution and construction of a retaining wall in Estate Mandahl, both on St. Thomas.
Those projects were identified as resulting from Ernesto-related damage, although the October 22 federal allocation does not establish whether either project will receive money from the newly authorized $2.53 million.
The continued allocation of federal funding for Irma and Maria also comes more than nine years after the hurricanes devastated the territory's transportation infrastructure.
In previous Consortium coverage, Public Works officials reported in May 2023 that the department had received approximately $80 million through the federal highway emergency relief program, with more than $50 million expended at that time. The department was then managing a combination of road, bridge and culvert reconstruction projects.
The newly published federal records do not identify the specific roads associated with the latest Irma and Maria allocation, indicate whether the money will support outstanding construction or reimburse eligible work, or provide project completion dates.
The October 22 authorization is part of FHWA's fiscal year 2027 emergency relief allocations, which address disaster-related transportation needs across the country.
