Gulch project soon to be completed

HILO — Motorists frustrated by construction delays along the Hamakua Coast can expect to get some relief soon.

A road safety project, costing over $10 million, on Highway 19 is scheduled to be complete May 3, about 17 months after it began.

The project, which involves the installation of wire netting along three landslide-prone gulches, started in December 2010 and was initially scheduled to be finished last January.

Dan Meisenzahl, state Department of Transportation spokesman, said the work was delayed because of weather and a change order that added 1,050 square yards of wire mesh.

Meisenzahl said the change order was found to be necessary after the agency’s contractor started the work.

“Basically we wanted to secure that hillside and make sure it is not an issue,” he said.

The $131,304 change order bumped the price to about $10.2 million.

Fallen debris has long been a hazard along the windward route.

A Transportation-funded report in 2009 noted that daily cleaning of debris at each of the gulches is needed and that boulders as large as 2 feet in diameter have fallen onto the roadway after heavy rains.

The wire mesh, which resembles chainlink fencing, is intended to prevent that debris from reaching the highway.

The same material can be seen on slide-prone areas on Oahu, Maui and Kauai.

County Council Chairman Dominic Yagong, who represents Hamakua, said district residents are glad to see the improvements, but he noted there has been frustration over its length.

“It’s been a thorn in the side of the people,” he said. “However, they do support the project in the whole. We look forward to completion of the project.”

Along with adding the netting, meant to trap rocks and boulders, the project has also involved cutting trees and clearing loose rocks.

Transportation’s contractor on the project is Isemoto Contracting Co.