HAU'ULA — An $11.5 million project to replace a 74-year-old bridge over Kaipapa'u Stream in Hau'ula starting next year is the latest effort to bring dozens of aging, deficient bridges up to existing highway standards.

In all, the Department of Transportation has budgeted almost $57 million through 2008 to replace bridges, some of which are nearly 100 years old.

Next year, state officials also plan to repair several more bridges on Kaua'i and Maui, according to DOT spokesman Scott Ishikawa. And at least 20 projects to repair and replace bridges along Kamehameha Highway are planned in the next 15 years.

"We are trying to do as many as we can afford each year," Ishikawa said.

A 1999 survey by the federal government found that about half of Hawai'i bridges had problems. Thirty-five percent of the state's 1,150 bridges were considered "functionally obsolete." An additional 16 percent were called "structurally deficient."

None of the bridges being replaced is considered dangerously in need of repair. Rather, the effort, which will total several hundred million dollars over the next two decades, is being made to ensure that the facilities meet current design standards for highway speed, sight distances, guard rails and pedestrian accessibility, officials said.

Those deficiencies can create safety problems as the volume and speed of urban traffic spreads to formerly rural areas like Hau'ula, officials said.

A Mainland bridge expert visiting the Islands recently said Hawai'i isn't unique in facing the bridge problem.

"It's an ongoing problem throughout the U.S., especially in metropolitan areas where there's an ever-growing need to add capacity as traffic increases. It's going to be a huge national challenge to fund all the improvements that are needed," said Linda Figg, head of Figg Engineering Group, a nationally recognized firm specializing in bridge design and construction.

While the state continues with its improvement program, it also should consider the design of new structures that make dramatic architectural statements, said Figg, who scheduled a number of meetings with state and local officials in Honolulu at the request of the Hawai'i Highway Users Alliance.

"The beauty of a bridge tells the story of a quality of life in the community. A bridge should reflect the beauty, culture and style of a community and be a reflection of what the community would like the rest of the world to know who you are," she said.

Figg said that while the state must continue improving outdated rural bridges like the Hau'ula bridge, it also has the opportunity to come up with a statement-making design for a bridge or other elevated structure as work moves forward on the fixed-guideway mass transit system and an overhead managed-lane traffic project being developed by the city and state, respectively.

"Any elevated structure in an urban area should be a sculpture in the sky, something that adds value to the area," she said. "First, it's about determining the characteristics that are needed, then sculpting the shapes in context with the environment so that you create a work of art."

TRAFFIC CODES ARE KEY

In Hau'ula, as with most of the other projects currently being planned, the projects are designed to bring the older bridges up to existing traffic codes.

The Kaipapa'u plans call for replacing the existing bridge along Kamehameha Highway with a new prestressed concrete structure that will be 110 feet long and 57 feet wide. Design proposals for the project call for two 12-foot travel lanes, two 8-foot-wide shoulders and two 5-foot pedestrian walkways and bikeways on each side of the highway.

Kaipapa'u Stream runs past the southern side of Hau'ula Kai Shopping Center and is about a mile from the bridge over Kokololo Stream, where the state is replacing another aging bridge.

The Kaipapa'u project also includes hardening of the stream beneath the bridge abutments with concrete to strengthen the embankment.

Officials warn that disruptions during construction could include temporary lane closures, the demolishing of one building adjacent to the bridge and the temporary relocation of three residences.

Work is expected to begin sometime in 2008 and last about 16 months, Ishikawa said.

Reach Mike Leidemann at mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.