"We are expecting more traffic heading that way in the morning, so we wanted to fix the road before we open the Zipper Lane extension," said Scott Ishikawa, DOT spokesman.

The project will take six months and won't be finished by the time the extension is implemented, but most of the work should be completed by then, Ishikawa said.

Work is scheduled to begin Sunday in the 'ewa-bound direction starting at Waiakamilo Road. Initially, one or two town-bound lanes will be closed for survey work.

Actual construction will most likely begin later next week and drivers can expect one or two lanes closed for that, Ishikawa said, adding that intersections are expected to remain open, with police helping to direct traffic.

With the contractor's base yard on the diamondhead side of Waiakamilo, the decision was made to begin there, work in the 'ewa-bound direction, then come back in order to avoid dragging heavy equipment across newly paved road, Ishikawa said.

The state also expects to fix a bump in the highway where H-1's concrete road meets Nimitz's pavement, he said.

The contractor will reconstruct the highway, digging as deep as six inches to repair the foundation under nagging potholes, then adding layers of asphalt. On top of the layers, the contractor will spread Superpave asphalt mix, a product used on the Moanalua Freeway resurfacing project.

"It's much more durable, and the drivers that have used Moanalua since we repaved it said it's a much quieter ride," Ishikawa said.

The last time this section of road was repaved was in 1990, he said.

This project will complete work on Nimitz that has included new water lines, light fixtures along the piers, sidewalks, landscaping and repaving from Queen Street to Sumner at a cost of $16 million.

Once the repaving is completed, the road will be re-striped and lane markers will be installed.