$30 million sought to repair city roads

By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer

Honolulu officials want to spend at least $30 million this year on street maintenance, the most for street repair in at least five years.

Major resurfacing projects planned for the coming fiscal year, which starts Tuesday, include Beretania, Pi'ikoi and King streets, Kapi'olani Boulevard, Ha'iku Road and Makakilo Drive. Neighborhood street projects are planned for Foster Village, Moanalua Valley, Kalihi-Palama and other areas.

"Some of the projects might extend into 2005, but our goal is to encumber $30 million this year," said Marvin Char, chief of the city Department of Design and Construction's civil division. "We want to get the projects out to bid throughout the year rather than waiting until the end."

Road resurfacing and reconstruction had dropped dramatically in recent years, hitting bottom in 2000 when only 35 lane-miles — out of 3,434 on O'ahu — were repaired.

Because of that, City Council members cut $10 million from Mayor Jeremy Harris' road repair budget proposal this year, saying they wanted to see the administration demonstrate it can spend all the money before more is approved.

"The city says it wants to start a regular maintenance schedule for the roads, but they've got a lot of catching up to do first," said Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi, head of the Budget Committee.

Kobayashi and other council members say complaints about city roads are on the rise.

"Everybody is complaining big-time," said City Council Chairman Gary Okino. "The roads are all so old. Once they start crumbling, they just fall apart.."

City officials say the increasing complexity of the planning and construction projects, rather than a lack of money, has been the big reason for the slowdown in road rehabilitation projects.

"There's no doubt the process takes longer than it used to," Lee said. "There are more reviews and permits to undergo, and the design takes more time."

In fiscal year 2000, for instance, the council approved spending about $14.3 million to fix O'ahu streets, but the city administration spent just $4.86 million of that.

"Sometimes, even though all the planning work has been done, a project is not quite ready to go out for bid so we have to carry it over to the next year," Char said. "It doesn't mean the money is lost."

Administration and City Council officials said at least some of that money remains available to be used in the following years, but that delays can jeopardize some federal matching money set aside for Honolulu projects.

Of the $28 million in federal money available from 1998 to 2000, the city spent $7.1 million. The city works with federal officials to try to keep the money available for city projects when they are ready to go, Lee said.

What's more, the money doesn't go as far down the road as it used to. Costs for a basic resurfacing of a city street can run to more than $200,000 per lane-mile; when a more extensive reconstruction of deteriorated street is necessary, the costs go above $500,000 per lane-mile, Lee said. A lane-mile is a stretch of road 10 feet wide and a mile long.

Still, Okino doesn't think money is the biggest reason for the decline in road repairs.

"The bigger problem is that the city only has so many project managers to go around," Okino said. "And there are a lot of other projects, including the ones from the city vision teams, that require managers. Even when you contract out, there aren't enough managers for all the projects. Whatever the reasons, the city hasn't been spending all the money we gave them."

Lee said the city hopes to address the engineering problem in part by moving to a design-build concept, which combines previously separate contracts for design and construction work.

"They can't do it all in one year, but at least someone is starting to recognize the problem and do something about it," Kobayashi said.

Reach Mike Leidemann at mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5460.