Work to give Kapi'olani Boulevard drivers a smoother ride is almost complete.

On Saturday, city crews started repaving the final stretch of the thoroughfare. The project to repave Kapi'olani from Ward Avenue to South Street is set to wrap up on Feb. 8, with work being completed on the weekends from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Because the project is being done by city workers instead of a contractor, there is no cost estimate for the work.

The project picks up where contracted work to repave Kapi'olani, from Ward to Kalakaua avenues, left off. That repaving work was completed in late 2008, and was part of a $34 million project to repair aging sewer and water lines underneath Kapi'olani Boulevard. City officials have said about $3.5 million of the total project cost went to repaving along Kapi'olani.

City spokesman Bill Brennan said that when the Kapi'olani repaving work is completed, commuters will enjoy a much smoother ride along the entire stretch of the thoroughfare. They have probably already noticed the smoother pavement on Kapi'olani from Ward to Kalakaua.

Brennan said that Kapi'olani is one of Honolulu's busiest roads, carrying about 40,000 cars a day. The portion now being repaved, he said, "was in very poor condition."

"There were many pothole and other complaints that the city received due to the bumpy condition of this portion of Kapi'olani Boulevard," he said in an e-mail to The Advertiser.

"With the repaving," Brennan added, "comes reduced liabilities in regard to vehicle damages, also safer conditions for pedestrians in the crosswalk areas, and improved delineation of pavement striping/lane marking that was not possible with the deteriorated roadway."

City officials, however, have also said that the repaving along Kapi'olani is only temporary. In perhaps two to five years, the roadway will need to undergo a more costly repaving project that includes stripping off layers of asphalt to decrease the chances of potholes forming.

The repaving work currently under way means at least one lane on Kapi'olani will be closed in the area on weekends through Feb. 8. Meanwhile, contractors are wrapping up the work for the Kapi'olani sewer and water project. All the sewer and water line repairs are finished along the thoroughfare, but crews still have to install traffic loop detectors. They also must stripe lanes in the repaved areas.

And, on Kalakaua Avenue, crews still have underground utility work and repaving to do.

All that is expected to be completed by April.