Kaiminani Drive improvements ahead

BY ERIN MILLER | WEST HAWAII TODAY

A $5 million to $10 million roadway project on Kaiminani Drive could get under way by the second half of this year, the project’s manager said.

The project will reconstruct the heavily traveled road from the top, at Mamalahoa Highway, to about Ahiahi Street, county Department of Public Works official Allan Simeon said Tuesday.

Other work to be done on the project, which is 80 percent federally funded, is shoulder and drainage improvements, utility relocation and some possible retention wall work, Simeon said. The project will also include new signs and other roadway safety measures, he said.

The project was advertised Dec. 29, with a Feb. 16 bid date. Once work begins, Simeon said it should take nine to 12 months. The work may inconvenience drivers and residents along the busy route, he said. The contractor will need to keep one lane of the road open at all times, unless special arrangements are made with the county, Simeon said.

Driveway access to residents along the road will also be maintained, he added, unless the contractor arranges for a closure with each affected resident, he added.

Design for the project is already complete.

The Department of Public Works is preparing to issue a notice to proceed on a smaller West Hawaii project — the planning, design and construction of the Kaloko housing project’s education center, Office of Housing and Community Development Director Steven Arnett said. The $1.1 million project will create a building to be used for job training and other educational purposes for residents of the county’s transitional housing units, Arnett said.

He said he hoped to see the project completed by the end of this year. Habitat for Humanity and The Food Bank will provide the training and educational programs, he said, with the ultimate goal of helping transitional housing residents be able to afford to live in nonsubsidized housing.

emiller@westhawaiitoday.com