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Kokua Line

By June Watanabe


Punahou road markings
to be finished in 3 weeks

Question: Driving on Punahou Street from Manoa to King Street makes me carsick because the traffic lines are so crooked. Auwe to the paver and city for such a poor job. I wonder, did the person setting down the lines set it down crooked, or are the lines straight and the paving of the street poorly done? Are these temporary lines or are they permanent?

Answer: The Punahou Street "waves" were meant to be temporary, laid down by the paving contractor, according to Larry Leopardi, chief of the city's Road Maintenance Division.

In fact, the contractor is scheduled to install permanent striping, pavement markings and pavement markers along Punahou Street tomorrow. The work is expected to take three weeks.

Because newly laid asphalt contains "volatiles" that take a while to dissipate, what usually happens is that temporary striping is laid after a repaving job, Leopardi explained. Otherwise, "the volatiles will take that stripe off," he said.

He acknowledged the temporary stripes "shouldn't be as wavy as it turned out to be," but speculated that the striping tapes may have moved as vehicles went over them.

Meanwhile, we're also told that the contractor was to begin reinstalling the vehicle sensor loops along Punahou Street today, completing that job on Friday.

Q: While taking our morning walk on the peninsula between Kailiili Bay and Kaloko Inlet in the Ka Iwi area near Queen's Beach, we noticed the remains of what appear to be several lava rock and concrete foundations at the makai end of that peninsula. What were those apparent foundations used for?

A: They are the remnants of Wawamalu Ranch, which was destroyed by a tsunami on April 1, 1946.

But way before the family of Alan Sanford Davis, a former head trustee of Campbell Estate, lived there, the area was home to an ancient Hawaiian village known as Wawamalu (shady valley). Hard to believe from the barren landscape today, but yams and sweet potatoes once grew there in abundance.

The land never recovered after the tsunami swept Wawamalu Ranch away, leaving the once fertile soil littered with boulders and rocks.

Auwe

The sidewalk that goes under the H-1 freeway on University Avenue is accumulating more and more pigeon droppings all the time. When it rains, the sidewalk is rather slick, and in addition there is some broken glass from accidents that have happened there. I'm waiting for the day when someone slips and falls in the muck and cuts him- or herself, then sues the city. A high-pressure hose would do the trick. What number should people call for something like this, and can someone be dispatched to the area? -- UH Student

(Overpasses and underpasses fall under the jurisdiction of the state Department of Transportation's Highways Division. Call state highways at 831-6712. We sent your complaint to the DOT, but you can follow up.)

Mahalo

To a nice lady who I saw cleaning the Korean and Vietnam war memorials by the state Capitol on Friday, March 29. I was just passing by when I noticed her. It looked terrible there, but she made it look beautiful. She told me her husband was a Vietnam veteran, and so am I. I just want to say thank you to her for doing such a thing. -- Curtis K. of Kaneohe.





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Call 529-4773, fax 529-4750, or write to Kokua Line,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu 96813. As many as possible will be answered.
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