The Virgin Islands Recovery and Development Agency RDA has raised concerns stating that the spreading tree roots along DeCastro Street have lifted and displaced sidewalk slabs, creating uneven surfaces that pose serious trip hazards, restrict wheelchair and mobility access, and make it difficult for pedestrians to move safely between the sidewalks and nearby businesses in Road Town. Photo: Facebook

To address these conditions, the DeCastro Street Sidewalk Improvement Project will deliver wider sidewalks designed in keeping with ADA accessibility standards, safer ramps and transitions, improved drainage, clearer pedestrian connections, wider parking-lot entrances and more suitable landscaping. Photo:Facebook

According to the Virgin Islands Recovery and Development Agency (RDA), temporary repairs have not solved the underlying issue. Because excavation for proper reconstruction must occur within the same limited space occupied by existing root systems, leaving those roots in place would allow the damage and the safety risks to return. Photo: Facebook

According to the Virgin Islands Recovery and Development Agency (RDA), temporary repairs have not solved the underlying issue. Because excavation for proper reconstruction must occur within the same limited space occupied by existing root systems, leaving those roots in place would allow the damage and the safety risks to return.

Safer, wider, ADA-compliant sidewalks planned

To address these conditions, the DeCastro Street Sidewalk Improvement Project will deliver wider sidewalks designed in keeping with ADA accessibility standards, safer ramps and transitions, improved drainage, clearer pedestrian connections, wider parking-lot entrances, and more suitable landscaping.

“The goal is a safer, more accessible, better connected and more attractive DeCastro Street, supporting residents, visitors and the businesses at the heart of Road Town,” the RDA said in a recent Facebook statement.

Contract signed, works set for September

On July 30, 2026, the RDA, in partnership with the Government of the Virgin Islands, signed a $798,108.74 contract with TMB Enterprises for the sidewalk improvements. Works are scheduled to begin on Monday, September 7, 2026, and run through February 2027.

The scope includes demolition of the existing sidewalks, construction of new concrete walkways, drainage upgrades, landscaping, civil works and traffic-management measures to maintain access during construction. The project is being delivered in partnership with the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sustainable Development, with funding from the Government of the Virgin Islands as part of the Road Town Development Partnership. 

Debate over trees and project scope

The project has also drawn public attention to the treatment of existing trees. People’s Leadership Movement leader Mark Vanterpool has called for the project to be paused until the government explains the proposed works and the planned removal of mature trees in Road Town.

The RDA and project documents, however, frame the works as necessary to address long-standing safety and accessibility concerns along a key commercial corridor.