H-1 widening project brings new dangers to Waimalu
By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer
For most of the 26 years Edward Sawamura has lived in Waimalu Gardens, it has been nothing but peace and quiet, even though his home sits literally in the shadow of H-1 Freeway.
The neighborhood is full of small, well-kept homes with neatly trimmed gardens and fruit trees, many of which have been tended by the same families since the area was developed in the early 1960s, before the freeway was built.
"Nice place to live," Sawamura said the other day, taking a break from painting part of his front wall.
Now, though, as the state prepares for a $65 million freeway widening project high above the entry to the 200-home subdivision, some residents say they feel threatened by changes the project is bringing, including an influx of homeless people and rowdy youths who have taken to hanging around in some of the 10 homes that were bought by the state to make room for construction work.
"It's really sad. It has scared the daylights out of all of us. This used to be one of the safest neighborhoods around and now it's not," said Waimalu resident Helen Nakata.
State Transportation Department officials said this week they have increased security in the neighborhood in the wake of a suspicious fire that destroyed one of the homes acquired by the state and left to fall into disrepair.
It also plans to speed up demolition of the remaining homes, which are littered with beer bottles and other refuse left behind by late-night users, DOT spokesman Scott Ishikawa said.
The residents wonder why it took so long — and why they had to wait until the fire last week — to see some action.
"I used to call the cops and others all the time, but nothing ever happened," said Sawamura, whose home sits just a few feet from the one that burned and just a few more feet from another of the abandoned houses. "The cops would come and chase them away, and they'd come right back the next night."
The problems began last summer when the state completed purchase of the homes and the nearby Waimalu Grace Brethren Church, which sits under the freeway, in anticipation of the start of work on a project that will widen the west-bound freeway and Pearl City off-ramp in the area in hopes of eliminating a bottleneck that occurs before the Waimalu viaduct.
A few of the homes were torn down, but the state then ran out of money to continue the demolitions, Ishikawa said. Then the start of work on the freeway project was delayed several times, first to avoid the holiday season and most recently by a shortage of available steel on the Mainland.
That left time for the homeless to take up residence in some of the abandoned buildings, and for midnight drinkers and skateboarders to work their way into the concrete courtyard of the church's preschool, said Rep. Mark Takai, D-34th (Pearl City, Newtown, Royal Summit).
"DOT is getting a little more of a handle on the situation now, but it's been a problem for quite a while," Takai said. "We kept telling them there was a lot of vandalism and there was going to be a fire someday. We told them there would be big problems, but nobody listened."
Nakata said increased security patrols and better lighting in the area have chased some of the problems away, but residents still worry what will happen to their usually quiet neighborhood during 18 months of construction on the freeway.
Transportation Department officials have scheduled two meetings in February to brief residents on plans to improve the Waimalu Gardens situation and to talk about the upcoming construction project, now slated to begin in April.
The project, which will involve crews working above the viaduct 24 hours a day, seven days a week, is expected to cause some traffic delays and problems for west-bound freeway users as well as those using neighboring streets and thoroughfares, officials said. There will be no night and weekend construction in the Waimalu Gardens area, officials said.
At various times, the project is expected to cause partial and full lane closures in both directions of H-1 Freeway, and adjacent roads. All freeway lanes, including the morning zipper lane, will be open during rush hours.
"It's causing a lot of concern for everyone in the Pearl City area," said Albert Fukushima, head of the Pearl City Neighborhood Board. "It's going to affect a lot of people."
Reach Mike Leidemann at 525-5460 or mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.
