Punchbowl Street Pounding jackhammers and odor from a tractor's exhaust have some Punchbowl residents wondering if it's worth it staying in their homes.
work aggravates
area residents
A section of the street is being
widened to make it
run two waysBy Rosemarie Bernardo
Star-Bulletin"It's really annoying," said Bill Chambers, a resident of an apartment building at Vineyard Boulevard and Punchbowl Street. "You can't hear yourself think."
Chambers, a clinical therapist at Loveland Academy, moved to the apartment unit a year and a half ago from Missouri with his wife, Estelita, and their three children.
"It's unbearable," said Estelita, who expressed her interest in moving out once their lease ends in July.
Workers contracted by the city have started off-site construction to prepare for the widening of Punchbowl Street from Vineyard Boulevard to Lusitana Street.
As a result of the construction, traffic has congested the Punchbowl Street offramp.
The widening is part of the city's project to make Punchbowl two-way and allow better access to the Punchbowl Street onramp to the H-1 freeway.
Contractors are expected to make property adjustments of about 12 feet from the curb to make room for an additional lane.
City Transportation Director Cheryl Soon said traffic congestion is going to happen. "We try to minimize it as much as possible."
She said the project "will ease traffic in the Vineyard intersection."
Soon noted that motorists can take the Kinau Street or Pali Highway exits off the H-1 to lessen traffic on Punchbowl.
A 74-year-old resident of 1459 Punchbowl St. watched construction laborers remove his aluminum mailbox in front of his century-old home to prepare for the additional lane.
"It's gonna be inconvenient," said the resident, who asked that his name not be used.
Dennis Sakai, who has lived in a duplex along Punchbowl Street for more than 30 years, predicts "it's gonna be a bottleneck" when two lanes merge onto the H-1 Ewa-bound freeway. "I don't know why they're doing this," said Sakai. "It doesn't make any sense."
Robert Rodrigues, 53, who lives in the apartment unit above the Chambers family with his son Jack said, "You could barely hear each other in the house."
With the odor from the tractor's exhaust and dust swarming in the air, Rodrigues, who is asthmatic, said, "This is too much."
He added that his son will no longer be able to park near the apartment unit when the future lane takes away a portion of the driveway.
Frustrated by the disturbances and limited space, Rodrigues has already started looking for another place to live.
Few household residents between Vineyard Boulevard and Lusitana Street have lived in their home for more than 30 years. Residents' ages range from 50 to their early 70s.
Next door to the homes is a mix of Filipino, African-American, Portuguese and Chinese tenants who reside in a six-apartment complex at 1443 Punchbowl St. The two-story structure is a transient community with residents occupying the building between one to six years.
Because less space will be available for residents to park their vehicles once the project is completed, the city demolished a house near Jiffy Lube to create a 12-stall parking lot.
Residents losing land to the widening project were compensated by the city; however, officials did not disclose the amount of the compensation.
Despite the preliminary construction and traffic congestion, store manager Darryl Fukuji of Jiffy Lube at 1489 Punchbowl St. said business has barely been affected.
"It's not really devastating yet," Fukuji said. "Business is pretty much steady."
The $1.1 million widening project is expected to be completed by November.