By The Star Staff
Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González Colón announced Thursday the start of work to replace the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Avenue bridge spanning the Puerto Nuevo River in San Juan, with a federal investment of $150.7 million from the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018.
The bridge replacement is part of the process of deepening and widening the riverbed, which will increase its current depth by two to three times, allowing stormwater from the Puerto Nuevo River to be channeled into the bay without flooding and impacting the property and life of the area’s 250,000 residents.
The resident commissioner made the announcement alongside other government officials and Brig. Gen. Daniel Hibner, the commander of the South Atlantic Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), and José R. Campos, president of the contractor Ferrovial Construction PR LLC.
“This construction project is a key component in managing the risk of flooding in the Puerto Nuevo River,” the resident commissioner said. “All of us who have lived in areas of San Juan and I, who represented the fourth precinct of San Juan, know that every time strong storms come, the rains in the metropolitan area cause the river to [overflow]. This affects not only property, but even the lives of the residents of the area.”
“We have heard about the Puerto Nuevo River dredging for decades, but we had never had the resources to do it until after hurricanes Irma and Maria, when we achieved the allocations within the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018,” González Colón said. “I am happy that we were able to secure the authorization and allocation for this project, which finally allows the construction phases to begin.”
Hibner said he and the USACE “are excited to begin this important contract, which is an essential component of an ambitious project aimed at mitigating flood risk and benefiting the city of San Juan.”
“This construction effort highlights the importance of collaboration between federal and local organizations and underscores our agency’s confidence in the local construction industry,” he said.
Once again, the Resident Commissioner behaves like she's the person running the show when in fact the FOMB and perhaps the elected governor precedes her in the chain of command. Additionally, this is another example of the Resident Commissioner of talking about the resources she got for PR when it's nothing close to that; these are fund allocated by the federal government due to hurricane Maria, the earthquakes and now the artificial disaster named LUMA/GENERA.
Her inconsistencies aren't needed if we are to solve the country's problems. She must understand that the Puerto Rican people are fed up with the NPP/PDP shenanigans; it's time to clean house and start the political, economic, and moral rebuilding of the country.