Highway in Waiahole to be repaved
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer
WAIAHOLE — The state will repave 7 1/2 miles of Kamehameha Highway between Waiahole Valley Road and the Crouching Lion Inn in a $9.2 million project expected to last about a year and a half.
The work also will include widening the 4-foot shoulder on both sides of the road to 6 feet and moving mailboxes, said Scott Ishikawa, spokesman for the Department of Transportation.
The widening also means that about half of the utility poles along the route will need to be replaced, in work that will be done by Hawaiian Electric Co. that will cost the utility about $3 million.
Besides the traffic disruptions typical of such projects, replacement of the utility poles will result in power outages for homeowners along the route.
The proposed work is necessary for safety and convenience, Ishikawa said. Some stretches of the road haven't been resurfaced in 20 years, he said.
State officials presented details of the project to the Kahalu'u Neighborhood Board last night and will present the information to the Ko'olauloa Neighborhood Board at 7 tonight at the Hau'ula Community Center, 54-010 Kukuna Road.
Objections to the project were aired at a Hau'ula community meeting last year, where people said they were concerned that widening the road would reduce the pedestrian pathway, encourage automobile passing on the right and promote speeding, said Susan Hummel, principal of Ka'a'awa Elementary School, which is on Kamehameha Highway.
"Our concern was that the shoulder of the highway is small and if they widen the highway there will be less people space, for pedestrians," Hummel said yesterday. "It was a safety concern."
The project is scheduled to begin at the end of the year with HECO replacing about 100 poles. HECO spokesman Fred Kobashikawa said pole replacement is expected to take one year, but the state could begin repaving once a substantial amount of the work is done.
HECO will begin work at the Crouching Lion Inn, where a group of 20 poles must be replaced, and then will jump to the Waiahole area, Kobashikawa said.
The crew will work in sections of about 1,000 feet, which contains five poles, he said, and each section is expected to take seven days to complete and will require closing one lane of the highway.
"For safety reasons for our workers, there will be outages during the work, and we'll notify residents who are affected at least 72 hours in advance," Kobashikawa said.
HECO will go door to door to warn people of the outages that will average four hours, and the DOT will have a hotline for the project, he said.
The paving contractor will begin his work once the poles are installed, said Ishikawa.
"We can't start the resurfacing work until the poles are replaced," he said, adding that the entire project could last about a year and a half.
Parts of the project have begun, with the state improving culverts and installing guard rails and retaining walls, Ishikawa said.
One lane of the highway will be closed once repaving begins and motorists can expect delays during non-rush-hour traffic.
