Hawai'i Belt Road bridge opens
By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
PAHALA, Hawai'i — Ka'u motorists now can take a direct route to either Hilo or Kona with the opening of the new $6.3 million Keaiwa Bridge on the Hawai'i Belt Road.
A detour had been in effect since early November after the bridge and two others in the area were severely damaged by flooding. More than three feet of water fell over parts of Ka'u during the record downpour that caused an estimated $70 million damage on the Big Island and Maui.
Crews have been toiling from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week since March on the 300-foot Keaiwa span, which replaced an 80-foot bridge. Work on the streambed below the bridge and installation of guard rails remain to be done.
Claudia McCall, a Wood Valley farmer who makes three trips a week to Hilo or Kona with her flowers, called the new bridge "a big improvement."
However, the speed limit in the Keaiwa area remains 25 mph because of ongoing work.
"It's not much faster yet," McCall said.
Department of Transportation spokeswoman Marilyn Kali said the other two bridges will be replaced under separate contracts due to be awarded later this year.
The cost of the three replacement bridges and a new bridge at Ford Cross north of Keaiwa where there wasn't one is estimated at about $30 million. Eighty percent of the expense is being picked up by the Federal Highway Administration.
The same agency paid for a $4.8 million bridge on Komohana Street in Hilo that opened in February, though the channel is being widened and deepened upstream by county crews.
The other replacements projects are the Ka'ala'ala Bridge to the north of Keaiwa and Pa'au'hau Bridge to the south.
