Pile driving rankles Kahalu'u residents
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward Bureauw
KAHALU'U — The sound of metal crashing against metal — relentlessly — pulsates through buildings and homes near the Valley of the Temples cemetery, where piles are being driven as part of a Board of Water Supply project.
Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser
Residents say the noise is causing people to lose sleep and is interfering with telephone conversations and other aspects of daily life.
Workers drive large metal girders into the ground along Kahekili Highway near the Hui Iwa Street intersection. Some residents say they are irritated by the constant pounding.
Distance and neighbors' houses buffer some residents from the noise, but people whose windows look directly onto the project on the Kahekili Highway say the noise is driving them out of their homes.
"It vibrates the whole house," said Lily Jay, 75, who lives on Hui Koloa Place. She said she understands the need for a new water pipe but can't wait for the end of the pile-driving.
The Board of Water Supply is installing 42-inch water lines from East Hui Iwa Street to 'Ahuimanu Road as part of a $12.8 million project to replace an old, deteriorating system. Soil conditions for this segment of the project include soft ground, artesian wells and run-off, making the area unstable and unsuitable for laying pipe.
To guard against sinking soil, the contractor will build a concrete platform on top of the piles. Then the water main will be laid on the platform, said Mike Kim, construction manager with Community Planning Inc. Without a strong foundation, the whole system could fall apart if the ground settles or sinks, Kim said. "The joints will pull out, the pipes will sink and a lot of people will be without water," he said.
The noise may last another month or two, depending on the progress of the contractor, RCI Construction Corp. Pacific, and some of the changes being made, Kim said.
That was good news to Joanne Burgo, a Kahalu'u Gardens resident who has endured sporadic pile-driving for about one month, including the driving of test piles and the start of the actual work more than a week ago.
"(The pounding) is like a headache," Burgo said. "I just want to get out of the house."
Burgo's husband and their next-door neighbor work the night shift and are losing sleep because of the noise outside, where the crew is preparing the ground to tunnel under West Hui Iwa Street.
Brendon Brown, a Navy electrician, said he normally goes to bed about 3 a.m. but lately has gotten up at 9 a.m. when the pounding begins. Brown said he tries to leave Kahalu'u when the pile driver is operating.
"That is the loudest machine in the world," he said.
Department of Health officials said impulse noise from pile-driving created at the Kahalu'u construction site measures from the high-60s to the high-90 decibels.
By comparison, normal conversation measures between the high-40s to mid-50 decibels. A city bus accelerating from the curb measures in the mid-70s.
Russell Takata, DOH program manager with the Noise Radiation and Indoor Air Quality Branch, said the department hasn't received any complaints about the project.
