CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Rebuilding of the Aiea pedestrian overpass likely will not begin for months, the state says. Half of the walkway was torn down after the Army damaged it and caused traffic chaos on Tuesday.
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Rebuilding of H-1 walkway not to start for months
Officials explore ways to reduce repair time
State transportation officials are looking into pre-casting a replacement for the 80-foot concrete pedestrian bridge damaged Tuesday, which could shorten installation and freeway closure time.
But the rebuilding of the pedestrian walkway likely will not begin for months, requiring time for design and construction phases, a transportation official said.
The overheight boom of an excavator being transported on an Army tractor-trailer struck the Aiea pedestrian bridge on Tuesday afternoon.
The state shut down Ewa-bound lanes of the H-1 freeway in the area for eight hours to safely demolish the overpass, as motorists inched along clogged roadways heading Ewa and elsewhere during rush-hour traffic and into the early-morning hours.
Concrete overpasses are normally poured in place, but since the demolished bridge was not a vehicular, but rather a smaller pedestrian overpass, transportation engineers are looking into the possibility of pre-casting it and "plopping it in," Department of Transportation spokesman Scott Ishikawa said.
"We believe we can do it in one or two nights, but not closing down the freeway for a 24-hour period," Ishikawa said. The demolition costs now stand at about $150,000, he said.
The construction would require closure of one direction of the freeway, likely to occur late at night and be scheduled weeks in advance, as during the H-1 widening project, which required three to four nights to pour concrete, Ishikawa said.
The Transportation Department's decision to rebuild the pedestrian overpass was made because there is a school on each end, Ishikawa said. Alvah Scott Elementary is located on the makai side of it, while Aiea High School is on the mauka end.
"We want to rebuild the walkway for the sake of the kids," Ishikawa said. "It also helps link the community, despite it being divided by the freeway."
Since it crosses over a freeway and not a highway, there is no other pedestrian access, Ishikawa said.
The Army suspended the licenses of the 35-year-old Army driver of the tractor-trailer and his 19-year-old assistant driver. The Army also apologized for the traffic problems created by the accident, and is conducting its own investigation into the matter.
Ishikawa said the excavator's boom was 4 1/2 feet above the legal limit of 14 feet.
He said the Army driver also damaged four overhead freeway signs before striking the overpass. Ishikawa defended the state's decision to shut down the freeway and demolish the overpass.
"It took out a whole chunk of the overpass, and with that it unraveled the cable that stretches one end to the other," he said.
"Once you snap too many cables of the concrete overpass, the weight of the concrete is holding itself up, and that's not a good situation," Ishikawa said. "Eventually, it will sag. It will collapse."