A stretch of roadway on St. Thomas is a bit cleaner Thursday as staff of several government agencies headed west and tackled the removal of abandoned vehicles along Julian Jackson Drive.
The cleanup task force headed by Daryl Lewis removed vehicles from the area near the old airport turnoff to well past the area adjacent to AMCO auto sales.
At the site on the second day of the cleanup, Lewis said the latest removal of junked vehicles is a combined effort of the departments of Property and Procurement, Public Works and the V.I. Port Authority. "We have removed the old vehicles several times only to have them returned by the mechanic shops in the area," he said. "We are going to put down some planks to block vehicles being placed here again."
Lewis said clearing the area along the northern perimeter fence of the airport runway is the first step in roadway expansion planned for the Lindbergh Bay area and part of a requirement by the federal government that areas in and around airport operations remain clear.
"They are about to continue the development of this roadway, so this is the first step in preparing for that expansion," Lewis said.
The effort to rid the island of junked vehicles is hampered by strict conditions now in place that prevent the towing of old vehicles to the dump. "We are in limbo with the oil and gas restrictions at the dump so we have had to develop a plan to drain the oil, tires, batteries and fluids before taking the cars to the dump," Lewis said. He encouraged residents who have junked vehicles in and around their neighborhoods to contact the Public Works department.
"They can contact Ms. Janet Gross at PWD, she can take the information and we will get to the removal of the vehicles," he said.
The efforts to collect and haul away the junked vehicles began last year after the Anti Litter and Beautification Commission chipped in funding to the purchase of a tow truck which since has hauled away more than 400 abandoned vehicles.
Lewis said it's been a joint effort all along. "The wrecker was donated by the ALBC and its been on the job ever since. It's all about cleaning up the island," he said.
Manpower is provided by two inmates from the Bureau of Corrections.