The timeframe to resume the Queen Kaahumanu Highway widening project is back in federal hands.
The timeframe to resume the Queen Kaahumanu Highway widening project is back in federal hands.
State Department of Transportation officials confirmed this week they submitted the Section 106 memorandum of agreement to the Federal Highways Administration Sept. 22.
“We don’t have a precise timeframe for FHWA’s review and approval, as they may require changes,” DOT spokesman Derek Inoshita said by email Friday.
Inoshita said he was unable to provide a copy of the memorandum, because it is not considered a final document “until all of the agencies and parties involved have been consulted as well. We’ll keep you posted on any new developments.”
The work, the second planned phase, will expand Queen Kaahumanu Highway from two to four lanes between Kealakehe Parkway and Kona International Airport. The DOT first awarded the project to Goodfellow Bros. in 2008.
Several bid protests by unsuccessful contractors were followed by concerns about burials and other archaeological sites discovered on the highway expansion route. The DOT awarded the project to Goodfellow Bros.
The federal government is providing the bulk of the funding for the $80 million project. Federal rules require consultation with Native Hawaiians and addressing any concerns they have about impacts the construction could have on burials and other archaeological sites. Several Hawaiian groups noted a number of potential impacts, a federal official said at a meeting in Kona last fall. Narrowing the median between the lanes reduces the number of sites, mostly historical trails, to about 15, the official said.
The ongoing delays have not left the funding in jeopardy, the federal official said.