Kalaniana'ole water main work to finish early
By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Bureau
HAWAI'I KAI — Commuters feared the worst when the city began replacing water mains along Kalaniana'ole Highway in April.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
But memories of monumental traffic tie-ups of 1990-95 during the protracted project to widen the road have thankfully given way to only minor inconvenience during this latest work.
Work crews replacing the water main along Kalaniana'ole Highway in East Honolulu took up most of the eastbound lanes yesterday, leaving the right-most lane and a contra-flow lane open for motorists heading toward Hawai'i Kai in the area of Wa'a Street and West Hind Drive.
Now the state Department of Transportation says the water main work — the major portion of the project — will be completed by late November or early December, in nearly half the time that it originally estimated when the $6 million project started.
"They've done a great job," said Charlie Rodgers, Hawai'i Kai Neighborhood Board chairman. "I've driven the road several times a day and never have I been held up."
Crews are about 40 percent ahead of schedule, said Marilyn Kali, spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation.
The first phase of the work, which began near Kalani High School, was completed in 2 1/2 months instead of the four that the state had estimated. The second phase, which runs from Kaimoku Street to West Hind Drive, will be done in five months, rather than the nine initially estimated.
Once the water main work is completed, resurfacing, guardrails, wheelchair access and landscaping will be all that remain to be done, Kali said.
No work will be done between Dec. 20 and Jan. 2, Kali said. Resurfacing will begin after the Sony Open, which will be Jan. 10-13 at the Waialae Golf Course, she said. No specific dates have been set.
Two lanes have remained opened daily throughout the water main project, and tie-ups have not been a problem, Kali said.
That wasn't the case between 1990 and 1995, during the $86 million work to widen nearly 3 miles of asphalt and concrete from four to six lanes, a project that Rodgers once called the "biggest mess ever created in East O'ahu."
Because East Honolulu doesn't have a roadway system that could be used as an alternative, residents had to slog through long delays, detours, potholes and coned lanes.
With resulting commutes that could take as much as two hours, sometimes it was faster to go through Waimanalo and over the Pali to get to town.
Rep. Bertha Leong, R-16th ('Aina Haina, Kuli'ou'ou, Hawai'i Kai), has told residents that the state plans a community meeting in January on the latest work.
"I had been concerned before," Rodgers said of the water main replacement. "I didn't want that highway shut down and I wanted night work. I think they have done a great job."
Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com or 395-8831.
