Salt Lake road project begins
| • | Map: Salt Lake Boulevard widening |
By Scott Ishikawa
Advertiser Central O'ahu Writer
Work began last week on a 16-month project to widen a portion of Salt Lake Boulevard, and city officials believe they can keep traffic disruptions to a minimum during construction.
The $19 million project will widen Salt Lake Boulevard from two lanes to four between Bougainville Drive and Maluna Street. The half-mile stretch of work is a continuation of a similar Salt Lake Boulevard widening project in 1999 from Luapele Drive to Bougainville Drive.
Construction will run Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Goodfellow Brothers Inc. is the project contractor.
Crews plan to start trench work tomorrow, but traffic lanes in both directions will remain open. The project also will add landscaped medians, left-turn lanes and bike lanes; bury overhead utility lines, and improve the street lighting system.
The city and utility companies are paying for 20 percent of the project, with the Federal Highway Administration financing the rest.
Rod Haraga of KFC Engineering Management Inc., which is overseeing the city's Salt Lake project, said traffic lanes will be temporarily restriped during the project's duration to ensure smoother traffic flow.
"After we finish widening the makai side of the street, we'll restripe the lanes to make sure traffic keeps moving in the area," he said.
Haraga said no construction will be done on Saturdays during University of Hawai'i football games at nearby Aloha Stadium. All equipment and obstacles will be off the road on game days, he said.
City spokeswoman Carol Costa said another project is under way to landscape the boulevard from Pu'uloa Road to Ala Lilikoi Street as part of a $1.07 million vision team project. The project will complement earlier landscaping done along Salt Lake Boulevard near the Radford High School area.
Aliamanu/Salt Lake/Foster Village Neighborhood Board chairman Grant Tanimoto said work to continue widening the boulevard is long overdue.
"It may cause some traffic headaches, but when the work is completed, hopefully it will be a model for other road beautification projects," Tanimoto said.
Haraga said community meetings will be held every two to three months to update residents on construction.
The city is analyzing plans to widen Salt Lake Boulevard past Maluna Street toward Ala Lilikoi Street. No timeline has been set for that project.
Reach Scott Ishikawa at sishikawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2429.
