Posted on: Friday, February 25, 2005
Mayor calls for 'war' on city potholes
By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer
The city will this year begin a three-pronged attack to repair roadways throughout the island, Mayor Mufi Hannemann said yesterday.
"Like our sewers, and just about everything else in city government, we need to play catch-up (with roads)," Hannemann said. "Simply put, the Hannemann administration is declaring a war on potholes."
The multi-tiered approach will include a city road crew dedicated to fixing potholes, a "first-aid" light repaving of rural roads and major reconstruction of heavily used thoroughfares from Kaimuki to Pupukea.
"I think everyone out here will be really grateful," said Pupukea Road resident Blake McElheny. "Every community that pays property taxes deserves quality roadways."
Deteriorating road conditions have drawn increasing public complaints in recent years. Hannemann's announcement in his State of the City address yesterday drew a large round of applause from those in the audience.
McElheny said he was happy to hear that roads and communities like the North Shore and Waipahu will receive attention under the new plan, but thinks the pothole problem is islandwide.
"We may have a small population, but we have a lot more visitors and it's a reasonable step to take to improve the roads for all of us," he said.
City officials released few details of the roadway plans but said the mayor has made the issue a priority.
"Where we can, we'll get started by doing the first-aid, temporary solution of laying down a thin layer of asphalt on existing roads," said Laverne Higa, director of the Department of Facilities Management. "In certain areas where it's really bad, we'll be going with the more expensive rehabilitation and reconstruction of the whole road, curb to curb."
By the end of 2006 the city plans to lightly repave about 30 lane miles and rebuild an additional 120 lane miles of road, at a cost of up to $1 million per mile, said Wayne Hashiro, the city's design and construction director.
To do much of the work, said city road maintenance chief Larry Leopardi, the city will first have to fill many of the vacant positions in his division.
"It's hard to do everything we're supposed to do when we have a vacancy rate of 31 percent," Leopardi said. "We'd like to have a crew repairing potholes full time, but they also have to clear streams, respond to floods, fix sidewalks and other things. We're responsible for it all."
Hannemann also said the city will soon introduce a pilot project in selected test areas to identify sections of pavement that have failed.
"If successful, we'll expand it to cover subdivision roads across the entire island and put our roads back on a regular schedule of repair and resurfacing after years of neglect," he said.
He also spoke broadly about plans to ease traffic congestion in Honolulu, saying he plans to relocate more city workers to Kapolei, pursue a new ferry system between Leeward O'ahu and downtown Honolulu and work toward financing and building a mass transit system.
One option being discussed is a ferry system that would carry city buses on board and then take passengers to their final destination, said Ed Hirata, head of the city Transportation Services Department.
Reach Mike Leidemann at (808) 525-5460 or mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.
