Posted on: Monday, May 23, 2005
Kalihi sewer work to last 18 months
By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer
The city is planning to replace nearly a mile of deteriorating clay sewer pipes that have been serving a residential and commercial area of Kalihi for more than 75 years.
Eldon Franklin, chief of the city's wastewater division, said the old clay pipes are created because of shifting soil and tree roots.
"That is the trouble with clay pipes — they crack," Franklin said. "Roots get in there and play havoc with them."
The project is expected to begin during the last quarter of 2005 and take about 18 months to complete. The city has filed a draft environmental assessment for the project with the state and is seeking public comment.
About 4,800 feet of new sewer line will replace the existing 8- to 12-inch-diameter sewer lines under Lakimela, Peterson and Pua lanes and along the commercial area fronting North King Street from Peterson Lane to just past Desha Lane.
To comment on the city's Peterson and Pua lanes sewer rehabilitation project, write to: City Department of Design & Construction, 650 S. King St., Honolulu, HI 96813.
Include copies for the consultant Akinaka & Associates and the state Office of Environmental Quality Control.
Deadline for comments is June 7.
Information: Call Roger Kobayashi at 523-4960. The sewer line has suffered several broken pipes, offset joints, pipeline sags and manhole defects and the work is needed to avoid more spills and improve reliability, according to the city.
"There has been maintenance calls, taking out roots, but the work is part of the overall assessment of collection lines around the island," Franklin said. "We are trying to keep up with the lines that are old."
Work on King Street may take place at night to allow buses and traffic to move through the busy area.
Bernie Young, chairwoman of the Kalihi-Palama Neighborhood Board, said all the infrastructure in Kalihi is substandard.
"I understand that they have to fix it," Young said. "They have to fix it and tear up the streets because the sewers are going to collapse. I know the traffic is going to be bad. I know it is an inconvenience, but they have to fix it."
Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2431.
The $2.6 million project will include digging open trenches to replace existing pipes on some of the narrowest streets in the city. The work is expected to create some traffic problems but has to be done, according to the city.
Franklin said the "cured in place" pipe replacement technology, which basically builds a pipe within a pipe without digging up the streets, cannot be used here because of the condition of the clay lines.
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