Water Improvements And Traffic Interruptions Are Discussed At Neighborhood Board Meeting

A project that would bring long-term improvement in water service but short-term problems with traffic is coming to Kaneohe.

We learned at our March meeting that the Board of Water Supply plans to replace more than a mile of waterlines along four streets, including Kamehameha Highway. A Water Supply representative said the work could start this summer and is expected to last 18 months to two years.

Bryan Gallagher
Board of Water Supply

Called the Anoi Road Water System Improvement Project, the work will replace pipes that are as much as 80 years old in an effort to improve fire protection and water service reliability. Bryan Gallagher, an engineer with the Water Supply agency, said the targeted area has had 54 water main breaks in recent years.

The affected roadways are listed below. Click on this link to see a map of the affected roadways:

Anoi Road from Kapunahala Road to the end of Anoi Road.

Keaahala Road from Keaahala Place to Kamehameha Highway.

Kamehameha Highway from Kahuhipa Street to Keole Street.

Luana Place.

The planned working hours for the project are 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.

Mr. Gallagher said that crews would strive to keep traffic flowing, including holding at least two lanes of traffic open on Kamehameha Highway. However, he said there will be some traffic delays as well as water service interruptions of up to 2 hours. He said affected property owners will be alerted to water outages two weeks in advance.

Mr. Gallagher said that while the interruptions will be inconvenient, a water main break could be much worse.

Both Neighborhood Board and community members raised concerns about the effect on traffic, especially on the heavily travelled Kam Highway. Board Member Warren Ditch urged that the water agency use police officers to direct traffic during lane closures. Board Member Deborah Collins urged the agency to obtain a permit to work at night and limit its work to those hours.

A resident said the water agency should coordinate with other departments to ensure that its work isn’t going on at the same time as big road projects, such as the current widening of the Kahekili Highway.

Mr. Gallagher said he would follow up on the suggestions.

Additional information is available by contacting the Water Supply Construction Section at 808-748-5730 or by emailing contactus@hbws.org.

We welcome your comments, in person and online

Please join us for all of our meetings. If you are unable to attend, you may provide testimony online and contact Neighborhood Board members directly. Comments on this blog are welcomed. To add a comment, please click on the link below. Also, please like us on Facebook and comment there.

Kaneohe’s Own Update On Local Developments

Here is an update on local developments, from our February meeting:

Photo shows Windward City Shopping Center
on right, with busy u-turn area
in blue, proposed turn lane in red
 and relocated crosswalk in green. 

Kamehameha Highway at Windward City Shopping Center is experiencing frequent backups as vehicles and pedestrians mix at a busy u-turn gap, a community member told the Board. The gap allows access to the shopping center, a medical clinic and other facilities for vehicles and pedestrians along the divided highway.  The gap also has become a focus for drivers trying to bypass long traffic lights. The community member recommended two fixes for the problem: carving a turn lane out of the median Pali-bound and moving the crosswalk to the Pali side of the gap. Board Chairman Maurice “Mo” Radke said he would send the recommendation on to City staff for consideration.

Kaneohe Beach Park is plagued by violence and illegal camping, a nearby resident told the Board. The resident said the disruptive activities are a constant source of anxiety in the surrounding neighborhood. She said illegal campers stay in the park’s bathrooms and run hoses from them to use as personal water supplies. She asked that the bathrooms be locked and encouraged the police to take action. A Honolulu Police Department representative said the Department patrols the park frequently and urged residents to call whenever they see suspicious activity in the area.

Honolulu Police Department’s District 4, based in Kaneohe, made two arrests, issued 30 citations and confiscated 20 pounds of fireworks over the New Year’s holiday, a Department representative told the Board. That was the second-highest enforcement level among the department’s eight patrol districts island-wide. The district covers the Windward side from Waimanalo to Kawela Bay. The information was reported in response to requests from residents at our January meeting.

Earthjustice, an environmental law organization, asked the Board to adopt a resolution against the proposed merger of NextEra Energy and Hawaiian Electric Company. An Earthjustice attorney told the Board that the merger would increase costs for consumers, erode local control and transparency and eliminate local jobs. The attorney recommended cooperative or municipal ownership as better alternatives. The Board took no action on the request.

Hawaii State Teachers Association presented priorities that is has developed for improving public education on the islands. The recommendations include limits on student testing, increases in vocational options, reforms in teacher pay, decreases in class size, and cooling for classrooms. An HSTA representative said she would like to return to the Board’s March 17 meeting to seek a resolution supporting the priorities.

We welcome your thoughts about these issues. To add a comment, please click on the link below or contact Board members directly using our Member Directory. Also, please like us on Facebook and comment there.

Kaneohe Construction Update

Here’s an update on Kaneohe-area construction projects, from our January meeting:

Kamehameha Highway: A city contractor is scheduled to complete repairs from a pipe replacement project by the end of February. Francisco Figueiredo, from City Councilman Ikaika Anderson’s office, said the work is taking place from Heeia Street to Heeia Boat Harbor. Once that is finished, the city will patch other parts of the road that need work. He said the city also is planning to completely repave the highway from Haiku Road to Kahekili Highway. That project is about a year away.

Kaneohe-Kailua Tunnel: Oversize trucks are scheduled to deliver pipes down Kulauli Street past Puohala Elementary School, through Friday, April 1. Project Liaison John Katahira told the Board that about 10 deliveries a day will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Deliveries are to be suspended within 30 minutes of school pickup times and during the evening commute from 4 to 5 p.m. Mr. Katahira also said work would begin soon on upgrading a pump station and installing new pipes in the neighborhood around Mikiola Drive and Kimalu Place. He said the project team is considering doing some of that work 24 hours a day, which would require a noise variance from the city.

Ohana Pacific Management Company: The owner of Ann Pearl Rehabilitation & Health Care is seeking city permission to remodel a building and build a parking structure to provide office space in the 45-500 block of Pahia Road. Architect Casey Kusumoto told the Board that the project would consolidate office space and parking for 15 employees who handle accounting, payroll, billing and other jobs. The parking structure would have a residence on its second story.

Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology: Work is expected to start soon on replacing utility lines to the Institute’s Coconut Island research facility. Institute Director Ruth Gates said the project will involve tunneling under the bay from the HIMB parking area to the island, with some related truck traffic on Lilipuna Road. She said the project is projected to take about a year. Project officials plan to distribute information leaflets to neighbors before work begins.

We welcome your thoughts about these projects. You may add comments to any item on this blog by clicking on the link with the word “comment” directly below it. You also may contact Board members directly using our Member Directory. 

Thank you for your interest in our community and the Kaneohe Neighborhood Board.