Hawai'i Kai median plan remains unpopular
By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Writer
HAWAI'I KAI — The project to install a tree-lined median along Lunalilo Home Road has been priced at $761,380 by the city administration, but it will actually cost $500,000 more and Councilman Charles Djou says it's a "waste of taxpayer money."
While a contract awarded to low bidder Royal Contracting indeed comes to $761,380, that's just part of the story, said Djou. The Royal contract provides for just the construction portion of the project — digging up the pavement and building the median.
Costs for planning, design, inspection and sprinkler equipment will bring the project total to $1.2 million. The city had budgeted the project at $1 million.
And that's for a project that many in the community do not want.
"I'm disappointed that the administration is moving forward with this," Djou said.
"This isn't a vision project or a community project. Everyone is opposed to it, yet we're going forward with it."
Work is scheduled to begin tomorrow.
The city has said the median will improve the look of an arid section of the community and will help to reduce speeding. But residents have complained that once all the new homes being built here come on line — resulting in more people, more cars — the median will create a bigger traffic problem than it will solve.
Lunalilo Home Road now is two lanes, with street parking on both sides.
Djou said a better use of the money would be to improve roadways or the city's sewer system, to address the lack of landfill space, or to do something about the on-again, off-again police radio system.
Residents have complained that this project is being pushed by the city administration because of Mayor Jeremy Harris' effort to plant 1,000 trees a year. Tree-lined medians have been planted along Pali Highway in Kailua; on Hunakai Street in Kahala; and along Ala Moana, Punchbowl Street and Sand Island Access Road.
Royal Contracting did the Hunakai Street project for $325,000, which was the cost of construction only, said Carol Costa, city spokeswoman. Fourteen trees were planted along that median.
Each time the city has built or planted a median, it has incurred new design and planning costs, Costa said. The same plans cannot be used for multiple projects, she said.
"Each median project has its own unique design situation dependent on the existing conditions," said Costa, referring to such factors as right-of-way width, street length, street use, left turns, U-turns, types of plants used, traffic signals, street ownership, drainage, water source, pavement conditions and utility crossing. "If we used a generic plan for all the median projects, then the cost of the projects would be driven up because the plans would not be site-specific."
The Lunalilo Home Road project calls for planting 52 trees on an approximately half-mile stretch from Kalaniana'ole Highway to Kalakua Street.
Resident Steve Carr said that while it's not "a waste of money to beautify the area," a better spot for attempting to reduce speeding with a tree median would be on Hawai'i Kai Drive near the new Nanea Kai townhomes.
Hawai'i Kai Neighborhood Board chairman Charlie Rodgers said he supports the tree-planting project. He said the area needs rejuvenation and perhaps the median will encourage residents in the area to spruce up their homes.
"I'm clearly in the minority," Rodgers said. "I hate government spending, but every dollar we can get to come here versus elsewhere is good for our community."
Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com or 395-8831.
