Construction crews were back in force at work last night on the city's Kapi'olani Boulevard resurfacing project. Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser

"It's going to screw us up," said the Kapahulu resident who paddles for Hui Lanakila, one of four canoe clubs that use the park for practice every day. "But I'm glad to see (the city) is fixing the roads."

Paddlers are among many commuters, residents and business owners who will be affected by the resurfacing project, which began last night and is expected to last at least six weeks.

Lanes along Kapi'olani Boulevard will be closed from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. Monday through Friday through July, and possibly longer depending on the weather.

Road crews are repaving Kapi'olani Boulevard from Kalakaua Avenue toward Date Street near 'Iolani School on the diamondhead-bound lanes. Then they'll turn around and work on the 'ewa-bound lanes.

"I'm sure it's going to be a problem for us," said Napali Woode, who paddles for Healani Canoe Club.

His crew won't be finished with practice until after 7:30 p.m., and road crews will be working on Kapi'olani Boulevard, which fronts the parking lot where the paddlers park.

Though work will be done at night, some businesses in the area are bracing themselves for the impending traffic snarls, especially during their busiest hours.

"Hopefully, it will affect us for only a week or so," said Bob Davis, owner of Cold Stone Creamery in the McCully Shopping Center. "There's not much we can do about it."

He said his sales dropped by nearly 20 percent when the city repaved McCully Street last month. The ice cream shop, which opened in March, is struggling to get off the ground, he said. This project isn't going to help, especially because most of his customers stroll in from 7 p.m. until its 11 p.m. closing.

Phuket Thai Restaurant, in McCully Shopping Center, also sees its peak crowd arrive after 7 p.m. But workers there aren't too concerned.

"It won't really affect our business," said Cheryl Uda, who works at the restaurant.

The city structured the project to cause minimal disruption to residents and businesses, city spokeswoman Carol Costa said.

Work is being done at night by contractor Grace Pacific Corp., one block at a time. There will always be lanes open in both directions. And between off-duty police officers directing cars and four large message signs informing drivers about road work, the city expects traffic to flow through the work area as smoothly as possible.

"We've got this very well planned," Costa said. "We're going to get in and get out as quickly as we can."

This project is part of a $3 million emergency road repaving project to speed up repair work, which began earlier this year. So far, major portions of King Street, Beretania Street, Pi'ikoi Street, Monsarrat Avenue and Kalakaua Avenue have been resurfaced.

Residents and businesses in the area have also been well-informed about the resurfacing project, Costa added.

Patrick Freitas, who has been hired to do outreach with the community, has gone around the area, handing out informational fliers and answering questions about the scope of work.

Residents of Ala Wai Manor at 620 McCully St., for example, have known about the project for weeks. So have businesses at McCully Shopping Center.

"We haven't had any comments or complaints," said Susan Nagdangal, property manager for McCully Shopping Center, which has 23 tenants.

Marjorie Wells, store manager of 7-Eleven, which anchors one end of the shopping center, isn't worried about the road work. She said about 70 percent of its 1,300 daily customers are from the surrounding neighborhood and walk to the 24-hour store.

"It may affect us a little bit," she said, "but not really."

Some residents say this is a small inconvience for the resurfacing of one of the most heavily used roadways on O'ahu, which has deteriorated in the wake of heavy rains around the islands this year.

"It's a Catch-22," said Ronald Lockwood, who lives on University Avenue and commutes to work. "People complain if the roads aren't fixed and (are) full of potholes, but then they're upset because of lane closures while they're repaving."

He said the ride along McCully Street, which was repaved last month, is "fairly nice now," though the experience of driving around the construction area wasn't easy.

"It was a challenge," said Lockwood, who chairs the McCully/Mo'ili'ili Neighborhood Board, "but it was doable."