If work on the second phase of the Queen Kaahumanu Highway widening project had begun when the Department of Transportation initially expected, and had construction taken the two-and-a-half years the DOT estimated at the time, drivers would have four lanes
If work on the second phase of the Queen Kaahumanu Highway widening project had begun when the Department of Transportation initially expected, and had construction taken the two-and-a-half years the DOT estimated at the time, drivers would have four lanes of highway all the way to Kona International Airport by now.
The project was first stalled by two bids protests. The protest review process culminated with the DOT throwing out the original bids and issuing a call for new bids, which brought on another bid protest. The DOT granted Goodfellow Bros. Inc. the contract, for a second time, in March 2010.
If those roadblocks weren’t enough to slow the DOT’s momentum, in spring of 2011, DOT officials reported inadvertent archaeological finds of some kind near the project’s southern end, near Kaloko-Honokohau National Historic Park. A Native Hawaii hui approached the DOT with concerns about those finds, officials told West Hawaii Today last fall. The construction start date was pushed back from May 2011 to mid-November, then to April of this year, and now to August or September.
The DOT remained mum on the exact nature of the requests delaying the project, which will expand the highway from Kealakehe Parkway to the airport.
DOT spokesman Dan Meisenzahl said Monday the state continues to negotiate with Native Hawaiians as part of the federally mandated Section 106 consultation process. What requests were made, any potential mitigation and what sort of concerns prompted the protracted consultation were all questions Meisenzahl declined to discuss, citing the sensitive nature of the discussions.
“We’re hoping for the best,” he said.
The delay will lead to inevitable cost increases, he said.
“We won’t know (how much) until we get the notice to proceed and start adding things up,” he added. “The longer it’s delayed, the worse the situation is. Costs would go up if it continues.”
Because the consultation process is a federal requirement — 80 percent of the project funding is federal — the federal government will have the final say on whether proposed mitigation measures are sufficient, he said.
“We’re doing everything we can,” Meisenzahl said. “We want this to get off the ground.”
One person involved in the Section 106 process, who had previously contacted West Hawaii Today, was unavailable for comment Monday.
Goodfellow Bros. Project Manager Ed Brown did not respond to a message seeking comment on the delay’s impact on the company.
