GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Big Kahuna Pizza owner Kelly Suchotzki, right, might have to move her business because the state's project to widen and beautify Puuloa Road threatens to take away customer parking and limit access to the restaurant.
Puuloa Road plan Big Kahuna Pizza is not much more than a shack by the side of Puuloa Road.
worries businesses
A two-year beautification project
could force some
retailers to relocate
By Craig Gima
cgima@starbulletin.com
But its location in an industrial area not far from Salt Lake condos and homes is key to its success, says owner Kelly Suchotzki.
"We're the local pizza place, the people's favorite spot," Suchotzki said. "We're sort of a landmark."
Now Suchotzki is faced with the difficult decision of whether she needs to move the pizza and sandwich shop she founded nine years ago. Her lease is up and the state is about to begin a $14 million, two-year project to widen and beautify Puuloa Road.
Most of her business is takeout and the project threatens to take away her parking and limit the only access to her restaurant.
The project from Salt Lake Boulevard to Nimitz Highway will not only affect Big Kahuna Pizza, but other small businesses along Puuloa Road and in Mapunapuna as well as thousands of commuters who use the road to get to Nimitz Highway and the H-1 freeway.
"In older days it was the main thoroughfare to the airport," said Grant Tanimoto, chairman of the Aliamanu-Salt Lake Neighborhood Board. "Now it's an unimproved road in a very urban part of town whose time has come to fix."
The board is in favor of the project, which Tanimoto says will eventually benefit people who drive the road and improve access to Mapunapuna.
But for the two years of construction, scheduled to begin in September, there are likely to be disruptions and headaches.
"My address is 701 Puuloa and why are they trying to lock me out? It's like they're locking the driveway to my house," said Jason Terai, manager of Industrial Hardware Hawaii. "Just like everybody got to enter through the back door.
"Why we spending all that money to do something like this?" he asked.
State Transportation Director Rodney Haraga says the Transportation Department is seeking to have the construction done at night to alleviate the concerns of businesses and commuters. He said the contractor will be required to keep one lane open in each direction during construction and maintain access for the businesses along Puuloa Road.
Doing the construction at night may add to the cost of the project, Haraga said. But it will also be easier to control traffic and may allow the project to be completed sooner, which would save some costs.
"If we're backing a piece of equipment at night, it would be a lot easier than during the day," he said.
Originally, the project would have added more lanes to Puuloa Road, but it has been scaled back.
Now it consists of adding left hand turn lanes for traffic into Mokumoa Street and Mapunapuna Place, a median, bike lanes in each direction, lighting, sidewalks, curbs and landscaping.
A public information meeting is scheduled for Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Moanalua High School.
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
This is a stretch of Puuloa Road that is to be widened and beautified by the state in a $14 million project.
One of the complaints about the project, which has been in the planning stage for several years, is that the state didn't keep the public informed and wasn't responsive to input from the community and businesses.
Under the new administration, Haraga said the Transportation Department will be more responsive and will show up at neighborhood board meetings and other forums to explain what is being done. Haraga said he is personally making the presentation Friday night.
Tanimoto says the neighborhood board wanted to have more discussion about putting the utilities underground, something that won't happen with this project.
But because this project is so far along, Haraga said the department may be able to handle minor changes, but any major modifications will add significant costs.
Suchotzki says she loves the hole-in-the-wall ambiance of her restaurant and thinks she'll lose some of that if she moves into a strip mall.
She'd like to be at her location when the project is completed because it will bring more traffic to her restaurant.
But she has to add up the numbers and determine if she can survive the two years of construction or whether she'd be better off moving.
"There's a lot of questions for me now," she said.
