Makapu'u work starts next week

By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer

WAIMANALO — Bowing to the wishes of the Waimanalo community, the state will begin the Makapu'u rockslide mitigation project Nov. 6.

Work on the $1.3 million project will begin about three months ahead of schedule and will close Kalaniana'ole Highway from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. seven days a week for approximately three weeks in the area where the work will take place.

Crews will remove loose material with hand tools and then blast dangerous overhangs to remove large boulders, said Earl Matsukawa, of Wilson Okamoto & Associates Inc. the consultant for the Department of Transportation.

Then wire mesh will be hung from the ridge to the street, covering about 900 feet of hillside from just below the upper lookout to just above the lower lookout. Road closure will be intermittent for this part of the project, he said.

The project should protect motorists from slide material for 10 to 12 years, giving the state time to plan a permanent solution, Matsukawa said,

But Kawika Eckart, a city lifeguard at Makapu'u Beach and Waimanalo Neighborhood Board member, said he thought rust and corrosion would shorten the life of the mesh.

"I've worked there for 15 years nothing is sacred against corrosion," Eckart said. Then the community will be subjected to another road closure and businesses would suffer again, he predicted.

However the contractor that is installing the mesh assured the 50 people at a meeting last night at Waimanalo library that the coated wire has outlasted expectation under similar conditions in California.

The drive to start the project sooner was sparked by an Oct. 15 landslide that dumped rocks and debris onto the highway.

On Friday Gov. Benjamin Cayetano declared Makapu'u a disaster area. This made it possible to speed up the project.

Correction: An earlier version of this story erroneously reported that the rockslide work would begin this week. Work will begin Nov. 6.