Fort Weaver Road work begins
By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer
Work will begin next month on the long-sought widening of the Fort Weaver Road corridor, one of the most congested areas in the state, transportation officials said yesterday.
• State officials will discuss Fort Weaver Road widening projects • 6:30 tonight • Asing Park Recreation Building, 91-1450 Renton Road.
The $6.3 million first phase of the project will widen the road from four lanes to six between Farrington Highway and the bridge across Honouliuli Stream.
Community meeting
A second, longer phase of the widening project from the bridge to just past Geiger Road is tentatively set to begin early next year.
"We've been waiting for this a long time. It's the start of something that's long overdue," said Sen. Willie Espero, D-20th ('Ewa Beach-Waipahu).
Fort Weaver Road is the only major access road for 'Ewa Plain residents, who have seen the area transformed from a rural, largely agricultural district to one filled with tens of thousands of new homes in the past 15 years.
Residents traveling the corridor in the morning rush hour face up to a dozen traffic signals as they pass by new subdivisions and commercial developments. They say it can sometimes take up to 45 minutes to travel the 5.4 miles between 'Ewa Beach and the H-1 Freeway.
"It's not going to fix all the problems, but it's a start," Espero said.
The work was originally scheduled to begin in March but pushed back to develop a new design that will widen the nearby pedestrian/bike path and allow the speed limit on Fort Weaver Road to be lowered from 45 mph to 35 mph for safety reasons, said Transportation Department spokesman Scott Ishikawa.
The work also includes building new curbs and gutters, relocating utilities and bus facilities and allowing the city to install new traffic-monitoring cameras. It's expected to take about a year to complete, Ishikawa said.
The second phase of the work, estimated to cost $18 million, will widen the rest of Fort Weaver Road to six lanes and relocate some existing turn lanes. That work is scheduled to take more than two years to complete.
"For a long time, the developers have outrun the government's ability to put in new infrastructure in the area," Espero said. "Hopefully, this is the beginning of the process that balances that out."
Reach Mike Leidemann at 525-5460 or mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.
