Makapuu rock Waimanalo residents will have to take an alternate route to and from town for three weeks beginning Feb. 1 as the state works to prevent rockslides along Kalanianaole Highway at Makapuu.
removal will restrict
traffic for 3 weeks
The $1.3 million job will begin Feb. 1
By Genevieve A. Suzuki
gsuzuki@starbulletin.com
"(Transportation Director) Brian Minaai and the Transportation Department have done everything they can to pre-empt future problems by solving this now," said state Sen. Fred Hemmings (R, Kailua-Waimanalo).
The state awarded Royal Contracting Co. a $1.3 million contract to prevent Makapuu rockslides like the one caused by heavy rain Tuesday.
The work planned for next year will stretch along 900 feet of the highway, beginning near Makapuu lookout and heading toward Makapuu Beach Park. The highway will be closed off every day for three weeks from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., said Transportation spokeswoman Marilyn Kali. The state plans to:
>> Scale back loose debris on the cliff-side.
>> Use controlled blasting for rock outcrops.
>> Install a wire-mesh chain-link fence.
"People have just got to take the Pali," said Joseph A. Aragon Jr., a member of the Waimanalo Neighborhood Board. "Any block in traffic is going to be pretty bad, but you don't want anybody to get hurt."
But fellow board member Wilson Kekoa Ho complained that the work is not starting soon enough.
Hemmings said the community has known the problem needed to be addressed after the Waimea Bay rockslide onto Kamehameha Highway on March 6, 2000, which hurt North Shore businesses and tied up the area for months. He said a similar rockslide would be worse than three weeks of construction. "If the highway was closed for any extended period of time, it would have a devastating effect on the residents and businesses in Waimanalo."
Insup Choi, manager of Subway sandwich shop in Waimanalo, and Jaein Kang, who manages the neighboring Hawaii's Hidden Treasures store, both said they are worried about decreasing business because the highway closure will block off traffic through the Windward community.
Wayne Nielsen, general manager of Sea Life Park, also is concerned.
Tuesday's closure for clearing of the rockslide resulted in a loss of 60 percent of his business for that day.
