First stage of Ala Wai dredging project done

By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer

Phase one of the long-awaited Ala Wai Canal dredging is expected to be completed today with crews having removed about 10,000 cubic yards of sediment along with old tires, rusted shopping carts and discarded automobile parts from the area between the Ala Moana and McCully Street bridges since work began Aug. 22.

Dickey Lee, with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources Land Division, said work is on schedule and phase two, from the McCully bridge to Kanekapolei Street, is set to begin next week. Crews will complete the clean-up of phase one before moving the barges into the next work area.

"The work seems to be satisfactory," Lee said. "So far we've had no complaints about odors. No complaints about noise."

The work marks the first dredging of the canal in more than two decades and is expected to rid the waterway of odors, increase flow and make it more usable for recreational activities.

Phase two is expected to last 152 working days, taking the project into next April. It is the largest section of the four-phase project, which ultimately will extend to the Kapahulu end of the canal and 400 feet up the Manoa-Palolo drainage canal to Date Street.

American Marine Corp. was awarded the contract last year to remove 170,000 cubic yards of sediment and to dredge the canal to a depth of 6 to 12 feet. Work along the two-mile canal is expected to be completed within a year.

American Marine is using a silt curtain to contain the sediment and leaving a 105-foot-wide path along one side of the canal for canoe paddlers to pass. Lee said the curtain has been working effectively so far.

Sediment is being removed from the Ala Wai using a barge-mounted crane with a hydraulic clam bucket that scoops materials and dumps them into a scow. A push-boat, specially designed to fit under the low-profile Ala Wai bridges, is being used to move the dump scow to and from the Magic Island staging area.

The scows can hold 300 cubic yards of material each and are towed to an Environmental Protection Agency-approved dumping site 3.8 miles off the airport.

For the second phase, the company will sink wood pilings under the bridges and along the banks to protect the bridges and canal walls from being damaged if bumped by a barge or boat.

Don Steiner who lives on the eighth floor of a condominium building located along the Ala Wai in the phase one section, said the noise level has been acceptable.

"It gets loud when they start it up, but that just goes with the territory," Steiner said. "If I'm working on the computer I just shut the window. Compared to the pile driving (for the Convention Center), this is a piece of cake."

Steiner said the crews quit at about 5 p.m. and hopes they don't extend the hours too much.

"If they went 24 hours a day the noise would seem much louder because it is quiet at night and that would bother a lot of people."

American Marine had asked for a noise variance permit to work 24 hours a day, but the state Department of Health decided to permit dredging only from 6:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. The company does not work weekends, leaving the canal mostly clear for paddling teams to practice.

Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2431.