This makes me sick.

I agree with you totally. My heart just fell when I read that article. Those trees are just so beautiful and it's awful they had to come down. KJ

I can't understand why the trees can't be in the median.

Could be for driver safety, but in my town here they decided to rip out all the median trees and median islands on a major thoroughfare so that the firetrucks and ambulances could get around the traffic. Tree roots also have a nasty way of softening the underbelly of the roadway.

I would hope that more Mahogany Trees be planted! They did the same thing over by Sibilly School when they altered the road there. The Mahogany Trees were so big and beautiful! It truly IS a sad thing, but new trees should be planted!

The second picture (in the article) of a tree is not a picture of a tree worth saving.
The article also makes note of the fact that Mahogany Trees are not a native species to the islands. Which should be a strike against their existance in the islands..

Cars are not native to the island either. The Trees were here first!

They were to remove all the trees. This is the end result of a compromise. A whole section of building has to be removed to accommodate this.

RL

It's called progress. As long as we have no population controls and the population keeps growing we will eventually cut down all of the trees and pave the planet.

"They paved paradise and put up a parking lot" Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell

There was considered no hazard all this time for drivers with the existing trees. If any fool is nutty enough (or able to) speed enough to slam into the tree, too bad for him. That would be the least hazardous spot compared to other more dangerous roads on the island. It's just a crying shame.

If the island was run by common sense in government would any of us want to live here -- and really could we afford the expense to have intelligent and forward thinking planning and efficiency of any kind on the enforcement level.

Exit Zero,
Good Point!

I try and have a realistic attitude after living here for many years BUT cutting down most of those trees really does make me sick. Years ago they did the same tree removal in Mkt. Sq. downtown and it has never had the same ambiance.
Why is the Champs Elysee lined with trees? So the Germans could march in the shade???

Another good point. I always thought the trees would be the median since I'd heard that Scotiabank moved so that building could be torn down for the road project.

The trees will be in the median.

RL

Ronnie, exactly which will be removed, do you know?

neil, they used to refer to the trees along the road as the "highway"police beacuse the drunks have a tendency to hit them, and exit zero, have you not yet figured out that you are living in a "third world banana republic" just because we are part of the US means nothing,idiots abound here,everyone is so worried that a statesider might get some authority and really see whats going on here,there are days that i really hate living here,ii'm so tired of the insider/ousider attitude that is so prevelant here and i could care less about the "local""attitudes towards "colonism", we are a part of the US and i can't imagine this same attitude in minnesota,texas or nebraska,just because you were born in a certain place means nothing and trust me your nobody special and so once again we need someone in power to drag these territories into the 21st century

I like the 'local attitude' and don't need to be dragged into the 21st century, a slower pace than MN,TX,NE is fine. Because people think differently does not mean they are 'idiots' , the fact that we are 'part of the US' means quite a bit to many Virgin Island residents especially our men and women in the armed forces. That 'everyone is so worried that a statesider might get some authority' is a hilarious point of view , and I have never had a day "I really hate living here".
I love living here and the way of life with all its unique challenges and rewards. If Ronnie says the trees are mostly staying even this thread about 'makes me sick' is a healing event.
'Someone in Power' isn't needed to DRAG but LEAD!!!

Reminds me of the time a few years back that drug dealers were hanging around in the shade under an old tree, so they cut the tree down.

I was not around back then but how did the locals react to all the Mahogany Trees plowed under to make room for Mahagony Run Golf Course??? St. Thomas has always seemed like kind of a mecca for hippies and I would of thought some of them would of chained themselves to the trees that came down to make that golf course.

FYI, the trees at Mahogany Run are still there. If you look form above you will see them. The road ran between them. It was a pleasant drive. Now the run of mahogany trees is within the golf course and we have to drive up and down the hill to get where we could have driven straight through the property. This time is was for the making of a golf course. Wonder if people would be up in arms today because they took out a beautiful shaded road to put in a golf course? I was.

I have to take a closer look at the drawings to see which trees will be left. I believe, for the sake of turning lanes into the dock, that is the area the trees took up. There was a rendition in one of the papers this week.

RL

Driving that road through the dairy [pre 1979] always made me think of New England with the shaded road, stone walls and then onto the horse barns in Mandahl back when they had mounted police at Magens.

Are there any plans to plant new mahogany trees anywhere?

I actually heard an official state that the very old tree was in the process of dying internally when it was examined, and that many of the younger ones were relocated. Also, the root structures of the younger trees could have eventually posed the possibility of undermining the roadway. I wish I could find a link to the info, but it was on a radio talk show on WVWI.

Hello all, now there is an article in the Virgin Islands Daily News with more info, which I could not substantiate before: http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/index.pl/article_home?id=17624070