New Pearl City road nearly ready
By James Gonser
Advertiser Central Bureau
PEARL CITY — Drivers and residents will soon have access through the city's Manana development at the old Navy warehouse site via O'ahu's newest street after the official blessing and dedication of Kuala Street tomorrow.
Unofficially called the "Manana Spine Road," Kuala Street is a three-quarter-mile, four-lane boulevard extending the existing residential road to provide a connection between Moanalua Road and Kamehameha Highway.
The $8.5 million road will not open for a few weeks, until work is completed on details including lane striping and synchronizing lights, according to Rod Haraga from KFC Engineering Management/Airports Inc., the construction manager supervising the project.
"It will not open to the public until some safety issues are taken care of," Haraga said. "We want to make sure phasing of lights doesn't screw up the traffic pattern."
The city purchased the site more than 10 years ago, and several projects at the 109-acre site are already under construction including a park with baseball and soccer fields, a youth center, a city bus facility and storage yards and offices for the departments of Transportation Services, Parks and Recreation, Facilities Maintenance, and the Board of Water Supply.
The park is expected to open in July or August and the bus facility in September, Haraga said.
Haraga said the road will allow easy access through Manana to the Pearl Highlands Center and to the new Home Depot store expected to open in July. The road will also allow access to H-1 freeway entry and exit ramps on Moanalua Road, he said.
The city plans to beautify Kuala Street by planting 23 monkeypod trees and 87 rainbow shower trees on the median and sidewalks.
Development plans at Manana include commercial and industrial areas.
City spokeswoman Carol Costa said the area is just beginning to take shape.
"We are doing everything we can to make this not look like an industrial area," Costa said. "We are quietly, slowly going in there and taking an area that was a lot of red dirt and scrub brush and transforming it into a youth center and a park and some positive uses for the community."
