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COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS, VETERANS AFFAIRS, AND CONSUMER PROTECTION 04/11/2023-REPORTED OUT TO THE FLOOR 03/20/2023-REPORTED OUT TO THE COMMITTEE ON RULES AND JUDICIARY BILL NO. 35-0010 Thirty-Fifth Legislature of the Virgin Islands January 31, 2023 An Act honoring and commending Mr. Aloy “Wenty” Nielsen for his years of service to the Virgin Islands community and naming the Christiansted Bypass in his honor; making a $10,000 appropriation from the General Fund for signage at Aloy Nielsen Bypass and for other related purposes PROPOSED BY: Senators Novelle E. Francis, Jr., Kenneth L. Gittens, and Angel L. Bolques, Jr. Co-sponsor: Marise C. James WHEREAS, Aloy “Wenty” Nielsen was born in Christiansted, St. Croix on March 14, 1 1946 and graduated from the Christiansted High School in 1965; 2 WHEREAS, in 1967 he earned an Associate of Arts Degree from the College of the 3 Virgin Islands in Construction Technology; 4 WHEREAS, Aloy Nielsen attended and earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Urban 5 Design from the University of Cincinnati; 6 WHEREAS, from 1973 to 1977, Aloy Nielsen worked in a private firm as a partner in 7 the Rollings and Nielsen Firm-Architects, Urban Planners/Designers, USVI; 8 WHEREAS, from 1977 to 2007, he worked with the Department of Public Works, 9 serving as the Territorial Director of Highway Engineering, and thereafter as the Territorial 10 Director of the Federal Highway Program; 11 2 WHEREAS, Aloy Nielsen has always been an effective team leader, supervising 1 professional engineers and planners in the development of engineering/planning projects, from 2 problem identification to generating viable solutions, and successful implementation; 3 WHEREAS, Mr. Nielsen was instrumental in the formulation and delivery of the 4 Federal-aid highway program; 5 WHEREAS, Mr. Nielsen developed the first official highway map of the territory; 6 WHEREAS, Aloy Nielsen had several accomplishments during his tenure at the 7 Department of Public Works, including spearheading the construction of the widening of the 8 Moravian Highway on St. Thomas to four lanes from Nisky Center to the access road to the 9 Cyril E. King Airport; 10 WHEREAS, Mr. Nielsen managed a number of significant road projects, including 11 Route 66 Point Udall, and Sunday Market Square on St. Croix; and the Long Bay Road on St. 12 Thomas; 13 WHEREAS, Mr. Nielsen directed the pedestrian sidewalk designs that were constructed 14 in several locations on St. Croix, to provide for the safety of pedestrians along major roadways; 15 WHEREAS, he administered the construction of Phase IV of the Melvin Evans Highway 16 (Route 66) from West Airport Road to Hannah’s Rest Road, (Route 661) on St. Croix; 17 WHEREAS, Aloy Nielsen directed the redesign of Buddhoe Park in Frederiksted, for 18 the 150th Anniversary of the emancipation of slavery in the territory. The $3 million project 19 was designed in-house and constructed within three months; 20 WHEREAS, Mr. Nielsen conducted a design competition among all registered architects 21 in the Virgin Islands for the design of a Millennium Monument to be constructed at Point Udall. 22 This project was so significant that it led to an article that was published in the February 2000 23 edition of Architectural Record and featured in a Federal Highway Quarterly Newsletter; 24 3 WHEREAS, during his tenure, Mr. Nielsen played a significant role in the construction 1 of the Christiansted Boardwalk including developing the memorandum of agreement between 2 the Federal Highway Administration-Puerto Rico/Virgin Islands Division, Eastern Federal 3 Lands Highway Division and the Department of Public Works to bring to fruition a number of 4 inter-island pavement preservation projects, which included the construction of the new 5 Molasses Pier Access Road, Mon Bijou Flood Control Channel bridges, Christiansted By-Pass, 6 Enhancement of Sunday Market Square, and Long Bay Road; 7 WHEREAS, Mr. Nielsen worked hand-in-hand with the Federal Highway 8 Administration, the Virgin Islands Port Authority, the Public Finance Authority and their 9 financial consultants in securing GARVEE bonds for the construction of the Enighed Pond 10 Marine Cargo Facility on St. John and the new Red Hook Ferry Passenger Terminal Facility 11 on St. Thomas; 12 WHEREAS, Mr. Nielsen administered a public/private partnership historic project, the 13 enhancement of the Sunday Market Square in Christiansted in which it was submitted for the 14 2006 Excellence in Highway Design Awards competition and won a Merit Award under the 15 Category 5-Historic Preservation; 16 WHEREAS, he directed the construction of the long-awaited improvements to the Long 17 Bay Road on St. Thomas; 18 WHEREAS, Mr. Nielsen provided an analysis of 23 USC Chapter One, on the National 19 Highway Program in an effort to gain more funding in SAFETEA-LU for the territories; 20 WHEREAS, Mr. Nielsen drafted the new Stewardship Agreement for the territory with 21 assistance from the Federal Highway Administration; 22 WHEREAS, the Christiansted Bypass has been planned for the island of St. Croix since 23 the 1970s; 24 4 WHEREAS, the Christiansted Bypass project experienced decades of delays, since 1 subsequent administrations did not assign it the same level of priority; 2 WHEREAS, Mr. Nielsen remained a consistent advocate for the project and spearheaded 3 the start of the construction of the long-awaited Christiansted Bypass; 4 WHEREAS, the groundbreaking ceremony for the Christiansted Bypass was held in 5 May 2007 and the bypass was opened for public use in January 2013, five years after the start 6 of construction; 7 WHEREAS, at the opening ceremony, the Bypass was described as “the largest 8 completed Public Works project in the Virgin Islands”; 9 WHEREAS, the Bypass offers a breathtaking view of downtown Christiansted and the 10 Christiansted Harbor, relieves traffic congestion, improves safety and supports physical fitness; 11 WHEREAS, Mr. Nielsen retired from the Government of the Virgin Islands in 2007; 12 WHEREAS, Mr. Nielsen had 28 years of experience in the administration of the 13 territory’s Federal-aid Highway Program, administering numerous highway projects, and 14 expenditure of millions of allocated Federal Highway funds; 15 WHEREAS, Mr. Nielsen is married to Vivian Nelthrop Nielsen and he and his wife 16 Vivian are the proud parents of Kimani and Khephra (deceased); 17 WHEREAS, Mr. Nielsen became an advocate for “people of color” to become bone 18 marrow donors and promote bone marrow registration in the territory, upon the diagnosis of 19 his daughter Khephra with leukemia, and worked tirelessly to raise awareness for the need for 20 minority donors; 21 WHEREAS, in November 2009, Mr. Nielsen tragically lost his beautiful daughter 22 Khephra to leukemia; 23 5 WHEREAS, Mr. Nielsen is a member of the Board of Land Use Appeals, the American 1 Society of Planning Officials (ASPO) and the American Institute of Planners (AIP); Now, 2 Therefore, 3 Be it enacted by the Legislature of the Virgin Islands: 4 SECTION 1. The Legislature of the Virgin Islands, on behalf of the people of the Virgin 5 Islands, honors and commends Aloy “Wenty” Nielsen for his service to the Virgin Islands 6 community through his years of dedicated service in the Department of Public Works. 7 SECTION 2. The President of the Legislature or the President’s designee shall present 8 a perma plaque copy of this resolution to Mr. Aloy “Wenty” Nielsen, at an appropriate 9 ceremony. 10 SECTION 3. (a) The Christiansted Bypass on the island of St. Croix is named “Aloy 11 “Wenty” Nielsen Bypass”. 12 (b) The Department of Public Works shall place at each end of the Bypass a sign 13 bearing the inscription “Aloy “Wenty” Nielsen Bypass”. 14 SECTION 4. (a) The sum of $10,000.00 is appropriated in the fiscal year ending 15 September 30, 2022 from the General Fund of the Virgin Islands to the Department of Public 16 Works to erect appropriate signage. 17 SECTION 5. The funds appropriated in section (a) are available until expended. 18 BILL SUMMARY 19 This bill honors and commends Mr. Aloy “Wenty” Nielsen for his significant 20 contributions to the Department of Public Works and the infrastructural development of the 21 Virgin Islands.by naming the Christiansted Bypass the “Aloy “Wenty” Nielsen Bypass” and 22 makes an appropriation for associated costs. 23 BR23-0151/January 17, 2023/ 24