Makapu'u roadway worries remain
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer
WAIMANALO — The $1.3 million project to protect motorists from rockfalls at Makapu'u Point is winding down but concerns linger, with merchants reporting a decline in business by as much as two-thirds and some in the community wondering whether enough was done to improve safety.
The state Department of Transportation is expected to announce the end of the project soon, but area leaders said they were told construction was completed yesterday.
The work included removing loose rocks and debris from the Kalaniana'ole Highway hillside above Makapu'u Beach and covering cliffs with coated wire mesh intended to trap any falling rocks.
It was a safety concern that had worried residents for decades, but little had been done until late last year. After an October 2002 rockslide sent debris from the cliffs onto the highway, blocking the road with what amounted to a truckload, Department of Transportation ordered work to begin three months ahead of schedule.
The work took six months to complete, although complete closures during the day lasted only about three weeks. After that phase, the project required intermittent contra-flow traffic throughout the day.
Both took a toll on merchants.
"I always get calls from people asking if the road is still closed," said Patrick Ching, owner of Naturally Hawaiian Gallery & Gifts. "People still have it in their minds that there's been trouble for a long time. A lot of people avoid going around that side and that will probably linger for months, maybe years."
Hawaii's Hidden Treasures depends on tour buses to stop on their round-the-island jaunt. Store manager Jaeim Kang said the contra-flow delayed the buses, causing them to fall behind schedule. Consequently, they wouldn't stop.
Kang said business fell from about $60,000 a month to $20,000 in November, when the Makapu'u work began, but it's creeping back up.
"The whole last year was so bad for us," she said, explaining that a three-month road project in front of her store lasted a year, then the Makapu'u project began. Now she's feeling the effects of the tourism slowdown from the war in Iraq and SARS. She is looking to the state for a loan.
But it's the safety issue — primarily whether the road will be shored up as promised — that has some residents concerned.
In April 2002 the DOT announced it would resolve the rockfall problem and reconstruct the road, which appeared to be deteriorating. The DOT information office said the roadwork is being planned and construction should begin next year. No further information was available.
Kevin Andrews, president of the Waimanalo Chamber of Commerce, said the road's instability is more of a concern than rockfalls.
"So what if the rocks are falling?" Andrews said. "What's going to happen when the whole road caves in? Are we prepared for the next problem? ... I don't think we've learned any lessons."
Waimanalo resident Kim Kalama said she and many others suspect that the wire mesh will not work, that anchoring the mesh to the hill may have loosened more rocks and that not enough was done to shore up the road itself.
Pieces of the mesh have lost their protective coating and she wonders how long it will be before rust takes over.
Kalama said the road is undermined and when a heavy vehicle drives on it, the road shifts toward the ocean.
"It can give way at any time," she said, adding that she considers the road unsafe.
Still, she said she doesn't want to close the road; she wants the DOT to make it safe to travel on.
"I know they are trying," Kalama said. "Don't get me wrong. I just don't believe they did enough. I think they could have gone into it more. I think they rushed it."
DOT director Rod Haraga said the mesh will mitigate the rockfall problem. "We thank everyone for their patience during this emergency construction," Haraga said.
Wilson Ho, chairman of the Waimanalo Neighborhood Board, said the DOT has done a good job and maybe the community was too quick to judge the state's intent.
"We couldn't see what they were doing and now that it's done, it's pretty good," Ho said.
Andrew Jamila Jr., a Waimanalo Neighborhood Board member, said people in the community are responding differently to the project. Some say it's ugly, some say it's good and others think more should be done, Jamila said.
Jamila said he appreciates that the state was willing to rush the work once the project was approved.
"I know it's not a final solution, but it is a step in making it a safer roadway," he said.
Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.
