Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.

Fed likely to
reimburse state for
most of Waimea
road construction

Construction will be on an
accelerated 60-day schedule

By Leila Fujimori
Star-Bulletin

The state expects to recover 80 to 100 percent of the cost of the new alignment of Kamehameha Highway near Waimea Bay and the temporary bypass road from federal emergency funds.

The cost of the new section of road jumped to $7.5 million from the original $4 million estimate, after it was learned "much of the work will be done in rock," according to Kazu Hayashida, director of the state Department of Transportation.

Further test borings revealed that much of the area is rock, which preliminary tests failed to show.

The contract for construction of the new road was awarded yesterday to Goodfellow Brothers, a Maui construction company. A notice to proceed was to be issued today.

A rock fall occurred in the area a month ago, closing the highway to traffic. A temporary bypass road was built on the beach at Waimea Bay but was washed out and had to be rebuilt.

The state has given Goodfellow an accelerated schedule of 60 days to complete the job.

A bonus of $6,000 a day will be awarded for every day it finishes ahead of schedule. It will be penalized $6,000 a day for each day it falls behind the June 30 deadline.

"This is unusual in that we've given the consultant only one week to come up with a plan," Hayashida said. "The contractor had only one week to study the plan and put in a bid, and they have only 60 days (to do the job) -- a very short time."

Construction crews will probably work around the clock to complete the project on time, Hayashida said.

Hayashida said the project is a priority to permanently join the two communities and to allow tour buses to resume travel around the island.

The contractor will build a 38-foot-wide road, which will extend makai of the present highway, to allow for a 20-foot area for rock catchment.

The area will be separated from the highway by a steel-cable fence, much stronger than a chain-link fence seen in other areas, Hayashida said. The road will have two 11-foot lanes, two 4-foot shoulders and a 5-foot concrete sidewalk.

A retaining wall will be built on the makai side of the present highway to hold reinforced earth fill in place. The backfilled area will extend the roadway to create the new alignment.

The state will continue to monitor the bypass road and the water level of the river. An additional pump was installed yesterday to put water into a culvert.