 Kalaniana'ole residents want rockslide solution
By Scott Ishikawa and Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Staff Writers
North Shore residents also are waiting to see if another section of Kamehameha Highway near Waimea Bay will have to be realigned because of a second rockslide last year.
State transportation officials are awaiting a separate statewide survey due this summer or fall on 30 potential rockslide areas along Hawai‘i highways.
The report would determine if state transportation officials need to move a 600-foot stretch of Kamehameha Highway near the Hale‘iwa side of Waimea Bay about 20 feet away from a cliff after a small rockslide last July.
That slide occurred one month after the state realigned a quarter-mile stretch of Kamehameha Highway near the Sunset Beach side of Waimea Bay after a March rockslide closed down the road. That slide divided the North Shore and prevented large buses from conducting circle-island tours, hurting area businesses.
Earth Tech Engineering & Environmental Services, which designed the Kamehameha Highway realignment, is doing the $290,000 study. Sites graded "A" and "B" will be considered areas of potential hazards, and "C" sites will be considered safe. After all the rockslide sites have been surveyed, the company will come up with safety options for each area, state transportation spokeswoman Marilyn Kali said.
Officials have already identified five areas as dangerous: the stretch of Kamehameha Highway near Waimea Bay; Kalaniana‘ole Highway near Lana‘i Lookout at Makapu‘u; Kalaniana‘ole Highway near Paik¯ Drive in Kuli‘ou‘ou; Kamehameha Highway near Waiale‘e Bridge north of Sunset Beach; and Pali Highway near Castle Rock.
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