SCHOFIELD BARRACKS — The massive Stryker brigade project, one of the biggest Army efforts in Hawai'i since World War II, is getting back on track after four years of litigation.

Approximately six construction projects related to the Stryker brigade are expected to begin in coming months, employing 1,000 or more workers, officials said.

"The timing is really good," said Paul Brewbaker, chief economist for the Bank of Hawai'i, who noted the Stryker projects come as the state's economy is slowing.

The number of construction jobs in Hawai'i, which stood at about 39,600 in August, is projected to drop to about 37,000 in 2010. Even that outlook may be too optimistic, and Brewbaker said the Stryker work, which wasn't included in the job total, is a welcome addition to a struggling economy.

"A project that's worth an extra 1,000 jobs for a year, or two or three, is a significant offset to what may be the risk that's unfolded," he said.

$1.5 BILLION EFFORT

The Stryker is an eight-wheeled troop carrier. The Schofield-based Stryker brigade, which consists of 328 Stryker vehicles and 4,000 soldiers, is deployed in Iraq and is expected back in Hawai'i around March.

As part of the overall $1.5 billion effort to base the brigade here, the Army plans to build 71 miles of private trails on O'ahu and the Big Island for Stryker vehicles, as well as new firing ranges.

Land purchases included $21 million for 1,402 acres south of Schofield for a firing range and motor pool, and $30 million for 24,000 acres of Parker Ranch land next to the 109,000-acre Pohakuloa Training Area for Stryker maneuvers on the Big Island.

The Army plans to also conduct Stryker training at Kahuku and Kawailoa training areas and Dillingham Military Reservation on O'ahu.

Additional projects, some still unfunded by Congress, are expected to continue as far into the future as 2017, officials said.

Among the projects coming up is construction of a Battle Area Complex in the back reaches of Schofield for Stryker vehicle maneuver and live fire.

MASSIVE RANGE

The nearly 1-by-2-mile range will have roads and pop-up targets for Strykers firing big 105 mm guns as well as .50-caliber machine guns and Mk 19 grenade launchers.

Soldiers in as many as 30 Strykers will maneuver and disperse from the back of the 19-ton troop carriers and also practice firing at targets.

The $32 million contract for the job, held by Parsons Inc., is expected to employ 50 to 60 people on the site at any given time for up to the two years the project is expected to take, officials said.

The Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the Stryker brigade projects, said it and Parsons are still in the process of negotiating an "equitable adjustment" for the work stoppage caused by the past court injunction.

The Schofield Stryker brigade has been gone since late 2007, when the unit deployed to the Taji and Tarmiya areas of Iraq, just north of Baghdad.

In April, the Army decided Hawai'i was still the best place to station one of its seven Stryker brigades after legal action forced a review of the stationing.

"Hawai'i is the right place for the 2/25 Stryker brigade — strategically, economically and environmentally," said Col. Wayne Shanks, a spokesman for U.S. Army Pacific at Fort Shafter. "Completing these projects, which will allow our soldiers to train here in Hawai'i, is vital to our ability to meet our national security requirements in the Pacific."

HAWAIIAN GROUPS SUED

The Army in 2001 decided to base a Stryker unit in Hawai'i, and started about $700 million in construction projects, including upgrades that were also needed for non-Stryker troop training.

Three Native Hawaiian groups filed a lawsuit in 2004 against the Stryker brigade, claiming it would harm the environment.

In 2006, a federal appeals court ruled that the service had not adequately examined alternative locations outside Hawai'i for the unit, and ordered the Army to do so.

Bases in Alaska and Colorado were considered before the Army again chose Hawai'i, saying it was selected primarily because of the ability to meet strategic defense and national security needs in the Pacific.

Some of the Stryker construction projects already had been completed, but some others, like the Battle Area Complex at Schofield, weren't allowed to go forward.

LOCAL IMPACT CITED

David Henkin, an Earthjustice attorney who represented the three Hawaiian groups in their lawsuit, said an additional infantry brigade of about 3,500 soldiers, which Schofield would have received if the Stryker unit had been moved elsewhere, would have had less of an impact in Hawai'i.

"No question, even based upon the Army's own analysis, that the potential destruction of critical sites, the likely destruction of endangered species, the noise, the impacts on neighboring communities, all of that is substantially greater with the Stryker brigade than an infantry brigade," Henkin said.

The state Office of Hawaiian Affairs filed a separate lawsuit against the Army in 2006 over the cultural impacts of the Stryker brigade at Schofield. That suit still is pending. Shanks, the U.S. Army Pacific spokesman, said the parties are in negotiation over the suit.

Qualification Training Range 2 at Schofield, a rifle and pistol marksmanship range, was about 80 percent complete when the injunction halted the project, said Ron Borne, the director of transformation for the Army in Hawai'i.

Workers for the Niking Corp., one of the subcontractors at the range, are now finishing the job.

Carpenter Dave Cavanaugh, who has worked for Niking for almost 25 years, last week said the work stoppage didn't affect him much.

"We do a lot of military work, so when this job shut down, fortunately, we were able to go to another project that our company had already started," he said. "It was an inconvenience, but we're glad to be back and completing the job."