Pali project to slow drive to town
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Chart: Grading a dangerous cliff at Castle Junction
By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer
KAILUA — As much as 400 truckloads of dirt will be hauled away every day when work on a $7.8 million landslide prevention project at Castle Junction hits full stride early next month, officials said yesterday.
The right-turn lane at Castle Junction for cars going from Kailua to Kane'ohe will be closed tomorrow to allow crews to clear trees from the hillside. Right turns will be allowed beyond the traffic island, but motorists should expect delays, transportation officials said.
The loading will require frequent midday shutdowns of one town-bound lane of Kalaniana'ole Highway, leaving only one lane open for the thousands of motorists who use the highway each day, the state Transportation Department said.
Lane closed tomorrow
"We know there are going to be delays, but we'll try to get the work done as quickly as possible," said Transportation Department spokesman Scott Ishikawa. "All we can do is ask everyone's patience and cooperation."
Officials said Kailua and Waimanalo residents trying to get to town should consider using alternate routes, such as Kapa'a Quarry Road, Likelike Highway, H-3 Freeway and the Makapu'u side of Kalaniana'ole Highway.
By the end of the project, in late June, more than 18,000 truckloads will have moved some 240,000 cubic yards of red-clay dirt, allowing the dangerously eroding hillside — which sometimes hovers above drivers at a near 90-degree angle — to be shaved back to a gentle landscaped slope of about 30 degrees.
Goodfellow Bros., which won the project contract, said it would begin carving down the hillside within weeks, after the area has been cleared of vegetation.
Starting from the top of the hill, about 140 feet above the road, a bulldozer will push earth down the slope, where an excavating backhoe will put it into trucks to transport to one of several landfill sites.
"We're going to work from the top down, so the only thing most motorists will see are the additional trucks on the road," said Arthur Lambert, O'ahu regional manger for Goodfellow Bros.
But the trucks and lane closures are likely to frustrate Windward motorists, who say they already struggle with construction projects that slow traffic in the area.
No lane closures will be allowed during rush hour, from 5:30 to 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 to 6:30 p.m., Ishikawa said.
During other daytime hours, most of the trucks will be loaded near a newly widened turn lane that links Kalaniana'ole Highway to the Kane'ohe-bound lanes of Kamehameha Highway. The trucks will then make a large loop via Kamehameha Highway, H-3 Freeway and Kapa'a Quarry Road and deposit the soil on Kane'ohe Ranch land on the Maunawili side of Kalaniana'ole Highway.
At night, many of the trucks will use a staging area about 1,300 feet makai of Castle Junction, pass through a newly opened cut in the highway's medial strip and head down the highway to the dumping spot. That will require closing the highway briefly in both directions to allow the trucks to pass, Lambert said.
Goodfellow Bros. said it is still waiting for a permit to use the Kane'ohe Ranch land, and some Kailua residents have grown vocal about potential traffic problems.
"There's a much simpler solution," said Kailua Neighborhood Board member Knud Lindgard. "They could just push the land into several low spots behind the hill on the side away from the highway."
That would require negotiations with the area's private landowners, however, who likely would want compensation.
"I'm sure they could afford to do it," Lindgard said.
Lambert said the contracting company prefers using the Kane'ohe Ranch land, as it minimizes truck travel time and costs. If that site isn't available, the dirt could be hauled as far away as Halawa or 'Ewa, adding to congestion on other parts of the island, he said.
Reach Mike Leidemann at 525-5460 or mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com
