Officials from State Department of Transportation and the contractor, Goodfellow Brothers, were at Kealakehe High School Wednesday evening to give an update on the Queen Ka’ahumanu Highway widening project, Phase 2.
Alvin Takeshita, the Interim Administrator of State Highways said the widening is necessary, and has been on the books for decades, because of the ever-increasing population of Hawaii Island.
The project will include widening Queen Ka’ahumanu Highway between Kealakehe Parkway and Kona’s Keahole Airport. It will go from the existing two lanes to four with ten foot-wide shoulders and a median. There will be six intersections with stop lights, highway lighting at the intersections, and turn lanes.
The project is now anticipated to start in “early 2012,” according to Takeshita. But “early 2012” was not defined more clearly.
Ed Brown of Goodfellow Brothers, the General Contractor, said one of the biggest impacts to the public will be 15 to 20 trucks daily on the road hauling fill material. He said they’ll be using around 230,000 cubic yards of imported material.
Brown said the project will proceed in stages, once the Notice to Proceed is issued:
Stage 1: Keahole Airport to Hina Lani, about 4 months, with minimal public impact
Stage 2: Hina Lani to Kealakehe Parkway, mass grading, cuts, utilities, minimal public impact
Stage 3: Keahole Airport to Hina Lani, 3 months, start opening road and divert traffic to completed sections with temporary pavement, temporary markings
Stage 4: Hina Lani to Kealakehe Parkway, 2 months, open one lane makai, one lane on mauka side, start reconstruction of existing road
Stage 5: 3 months, opening additional lanes
Stage 6: 4 months, final pavement, permanent striping, cleanup, etc.
Brown also gave an update on jobs, to be filled mostly with local residents, that will be created by the project:
• 40-45 jobs for first three months,
• 50-55 jobs next 3 months,
• 75-100 jobs for next year,
• 30-50 jobs for last 3 months.
Dan Meisenzahl, spokesman for the State Department of Transportation, said the project cost is anticipated to be $76 million, and is fully funded. He said the current project start delays are because of recent concerns expressed by Native Hawaiian groups about archaeological remains.
Meisenzahl also said the landscaping will be drought-tolerant xeriscape, good news for those who’ve watched the grass in the median between Palani Road and Makala Boulevard turn into a mass of weeds that gets frequent watering and is also maintenance-intense.
One question that was raised was why the construction was not being done at night, to minimize the impact on local residents and businesses, since the construction area is not near a residential area. State Highways’ Takeshita said the cost of providing night-time lighting is too expensive and it would extend the project timeline because it would necessitate a smaller worksite. Ed Brown expanded on Takeshita’s answer by explaining that there would be one lane open at all times during construction, the same number of lanes open now. He said there would be night work for parts of the project that would especially impact traffic. Dan Meisenzahl said another issue impacting nightwork is the proximity to Kaloko-Honoohau National Historic Park, where night lights could be detrimental to the flora and fauna in the park.
Laura Dierenfield of Peoples Advocacy Trails Hawaii (PATH) asked about the inclusion of bike paths and about making the intersections more bike-friendly with designated bike lanes. Alvin Takeshita said he did not want to put in bike lanes, with a bike symbol, because it might result in those practicing for Ironman getting tickets. Dierenfield said she was merely asking State Highways to use the standard, established nationwide best practices to enable bike riders to be on the roads safely. Other community members seconded Dierenfield’s request, and Takeshita maintained the issue had not been raised adequately in previous meetings–a statement with which attendees did not agree.
Another point of contention was audience members’ request to have a signal light at the entrance to the Natural Energy Lab of Hawaii, about a mile south of Keahole Airport. The nearest signal will be down at the road on which Matsuyama Store is located, across from O’oma. The Natural Energy Lab road is now heavily used, not only by trucks involved with the businesses at the Natural Energy Lab, but even more by members of the public accessing the beaches. Takeshita said the amount of traffic going into NELHA was not sufficient to meet the criteria for a signal, which caused audience members to question how the road leading into the Kaloko-Honokohau National Historic Park could warrant a signal since it seems to have far less traffic.
During the construction, the web site www.buildqueenk.com will have updates. There will also be a hotline, staffed by somebody to take questions and get a return call with answers—888-440-7988.
Concerns were expressed regarding leftover work material and machinery from the Queen Ka’ahumanu Highway Phase 1 Widening Project, which was managed by Hawaiian Dredging and completed well over a year ago. The contractor left mounds of gravel plus machinery at the intersection of Queen Ka’ahumanu Highway and Kealakehe Parkway. Takeshita said he and his department are trying to get Hawaiian Dredging to remove the material, and expect to have that done by January, 2012.
