East O'ahu fears highway nightmare's return

The state is about a month away from beginning its massive, 21-month construction project along Kalaniana‘ole Highway, but East O‘ahu commuters still aren’t convinced the roadwork won’t mean a repeat of frustrating two-hour delays that came with the grueling widening project that was completed just a few years ago.

Kalaniana‘ole Highway project First phase When: Starts April 9, lasts four months. What: Installation of an 8-inch water main from ‘Ainakoa Avenue to Laukahi Street, 1/4 mile. Construction hours: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., weekdays. Driving restrictions: The center and right lane on the mauka side of the highway will be closed during construction hours. A contra-flow lane will create two lanes of traffic in each direction. Waikui Street, connecting with Kalaniana‘ole Highway, will be closed to keep drivers from using it as a detour. Waikui Street residents will be able to get to Kalaniana‘ole through Wai‘eli or Waiholo streets. Left turns onto ‘Ainakoa Avenue at the end of the H1 Freeway will be prohibited, but drivers will be able to make U-turns at Laukahi Street. Transportation officials recommend drivers use Kilauea Avenue, then turn right on Malia Street to reach ‘Ainakoa. Drivers coming out of Kalani‘iki and Wai‘eli streets, and ‘Ainakoa Avenue, can only make right turns onto Kalaniana‘ole, and will not be allowed to travel across the intersection. Second phase When: Starts next summer, lasts nine months. Work to be done weekdays. What: Installation of a 16-inch water main from Kaimoku Street to West Hind Drive, fl mile. Driving restrictions: The center and right lane on the makai side of Kalaniana‘ole Highway will be closed during work. Traffic contra-flow lanes and left-turn restrictions to be determined. Third phase When: Starts summer 2002, last eight months. Work to be done weekdays. What: Resurfacing and guard rail improvements over the length of the project, 1.4 miles. Driving restrictions: The Transportation Department is planning resurfacing work at night and guardrail and other improvements during the day. No decision yet on lane restrictions. Information Motorists will be able to monitor traffic along Kalaniana‘ole Highway through the DOT’s H-1 Corridor Hot Line at 587-2345 or its Web site’s traffic cameras monitors.

The work begins on April 9, and will require digging up part of Kalaniana‘ole Highway from West Hind Drive to ‘Ainakoa Avenue to replace water mains and gas lines, followed by resurfacing and other work.

On a highway that handles 80,000 cars a day, and with East O‘ahu residents still having flashbacks to the widening project that lasted from 1990 to 1995, many fear excruciating traffic delays even though the state Department of Transportation insists the situation won’t be as bad as last time.

"It was the biggest mess ever created in East O‘ahu," Hawai‘i Kai Neighborhood Board chairman Charlie Rodgers recalled. "Our board’s biggest concern is the construction will hurt businesses again, particularly the tour and dive operations."

While crews expanded the highway from four lanes to six along a 4-mile stretch, motorists had to endure commutes into town that required up to two hours.

The gridlock affected everything from area businesses and restaurants to attendance at the local Rotary club meetings. The construction created a war-zone-like setting, with drivers forced to negotiate a sea of orange safety cones and metal plates covering holes in the ground.

"We think it will go relatively well this time," said state transportation spokeswoman Marilyn Kali. "It will not be anything like five years ago."

Kali said the widening project was such a mess because only one lane of traffic was open in each direction. Two lanes will be open each way during this project.

"The length of this project is less than half the size of the previous construction," Kali said. "The widening project dealt with everything from digging up the highway to moving homes back. This project won’t make the same visual impact, so hopefully, there won’t be the same amount of rubbernecking by drivers."

Why so long?

While this project won’t be on the same scale as the widening work, Hawai‘i Kai real estate agent Quincy Kaneshiro and other East Honolulu residents wonder why the water main project will take nearly two years.

"It shouldn’t last that long, should it?" said Kaneshiro, who is concerned the construction will affect showing homes to clients.

Kali said two reasons for the length of the project are the water main installation and the limited work schedule each day to make way for morning and afternoon rush-hour traffic.

"Installing the water mains is time-consuming because you have to dig, then install the new main, before turning off and taking out the old one," Kali said. "Then you have to connect the new main with the surrounding neighborhoods."

The state has been set to go on the $6 million project since last summer as part of a plan to finish 10 major road projects in a three-year span along the H-1 Freeway corridor. But last July, Mayor Jeremy Harris ordered the work delayed until the other freeway construction was completed.

While some East O‘ahu residents have requested construction be done at night to speed up the project, DOT officials said nearly all of the work will happen 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays. The only work tentatively scheduled for evenings is the resurfacing work near the conclusion of the project.

State officials have decided against any other evening work because it would have been too noisy, with some homes less than 10 feet from the roadway. But officials have said they will reconsider if traffic becomes unbearable.

"We went back and forth on whether we should work day or night, and I finally made a decision we’re going day," said state Transportation Director Brian Minaai. "When we feel (delays) get to an unacceptable level, we will go nights."

But Kathy Takahashi, who runs a Hawai‘i Kai ocean recreation business called Reef Adventures, said she and other tourism-related businesses depend on the highway during the midday. Takahashi is edgy about whether the latest work may affect them as the 1990s work did. She and others saw their business drop by half, she said.

"If it gets real bad, I may have to hire another driver to pick up clients," Takahashi said about potential traffic delays affecting her hourly customer pickups from Waikiki. "I can’t afford to pick up my clients late, because it hurts your reputation. It doesn’t matter to the customer waiting an extra half-hour or 45 minutes whether the traffic held you up, they’ll still be mad at you."

Community advice

Community leaders have made other suggestions to speed up the construction. For the second phase of the project involving the installation of the 16-inch water main, the Hawai‘i Kai Neighborhood Board has recommended work be done simultaneously at both ends of the project, working toward the middle.

Kali said transportation officials are considering the idea, but warned there are drawbacks.

"If we do work at both ends simultaneously, what it does is create a longer contra-flow lane, which will mean a longer bottleneck," Kali said. "So the work may get done faster, but there may be longer traffic delays during that period."

The state did a test run last month at where the first phase of work will occur, from ‘Ainakoa Avenue to Kalani‘iki Street. Kali said the experimental contra-flow lane created a delay of up to 10 minutes.

"I would be surprised if the delays go past 30 minutes," Kali said. "If the delays are as bad as the last time, we’ll probably be forced to do more work at night. But until then, we think the daytime work will work out fine."

Kali said the water main work will be away from the center of the highway, making it easier to create detours around the construction.

"Two lanes will be the most we need to shut down," Kali said.

Contractor to be pushed

Transportation officials also will push contractor Grace Pacific to do the third phase of the project — resurfacing work and guardrail improvements — in a four-month span rather than the eight months originally proposed.

Kaneshiro said transportation officials need to carefully monitor the project, down to the smallest detail, to regain motorists’ confidence.

"They already allowed the Gas Co. to work on a recent Saturday without letting drivers know, which caused traffic to back up," Kaneshiro said. "This is their highway. They need to keep an eye on things. That means everything from how the police direct traffic at intersections to laying the metal plates across holes at the end of the work day so it won’t damage the tires."

And Kali admits there are the unknown factors that may add to traffic delays, such as unmapped water or utility lines that may be ruptured during digging.

Kamlesh Sappal, who manages the Cosmopolitan Sun Shop swimming apparel store at Koko Marina, said she hopes the traffic delays won’t cause her business to lose 30 percent of its customers as the last construction did.

"I guess we’ll have to wait and see until April if this will affect our quality of life," she said.

Advertiser staff writer Suzanne Roig contributed to this report.

[back to top]