Oct. 15, 2004 – As Centerline Road on St. John nears Coral Bay, erosion is undermining a section of the road about 30 feet long. Right now, the road is undermined by about a foot.
This is causing a potential problem for drivers – and for Pam Gaffin – who fears that when the road goes, she'll get a vehicle on or near her house.
"Anybody that goes flying is going to come right here," she said, pointing to a space just behind her house.
Gaffin said the issue appears to be money, but deputy Public Works director Ira Wade and St. John Administrator Julien Harley dispute her claim.
"It's being addressed," Harley said.
Wade said an engineer is expected on Tuesday to evaluate the situation.
"I have the funding," he said.
The money comes from Public Works Department funds.
Harley said the problem won't be solved next week, but it will be solved.
However, Gaffin said that it's going to cost a lot more to make repairs if the road collapses. Additionally, it will impede traffic on the only passable road to Coral Bay.
She's already suffered extensive troubles from erosion. In the November 2003 heavy rains, so much rain poured down the hillside that it washed away the footing on her house along with a garden planted to take advantage of what was once a small trickle of water.
When Tropical Storm Jeanne hit in September, another big section of the hill slid down onto her property.
The problem began to escalate as homes were built on the hillside above her house in the Upper Carolina subdivision. The houses diverted the normal water flow, forcing it instead to run down the hill across Centerline Road and onto her property.
Gaffin has installed sandbags along Centerline Road to divert the water down the road, but she said the road is already undermined enough to threaten drivers. A 15-foot vertical drop awaits them if they go over the edge.
The asphalt is cracked and appears sunken in some spots.
"The telephone pole is leaning," she pointed out.
She said that if the pole goes it will take out electricity, telephone and cable TV to Coral Bay.
Harley agreed that the utility pole's lean is worrisome.
Gaffin has posted a sign on the telephone pole that reads "Danger road is undermined and might collapse." Gaffin had put up a big wooden sign, but someone stole it.
The problem is exacerbated by Coral Bay's building boom. Heavy trucks zoom up and down the road all day long, many of them coming so close to the edge they've worn holes in the sandbags.
Gaffin said the trucks also vibrate the dirt so it falls on her property.
She is no stranger to flying vehicles. Several years ago, a car went off the road near her property, flipped over and landed near her house.
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