Some residents and business owners along or near Kapiolani Boulevard in Kakaako are concerned over the city’s proposal to do night roadwork for an extended period beginning in May and ending next year.

"To be kept awake every single night is grossly unfair," area resident Ann O’Connell said.

The city applied to the state Health Department on Dec. 13 for a noise variance to allow road crews to work nightly May 1 to Feb. 1 on a one-third-mile segment of Kapiolani Boulevard from South Street to Ward Avenue. The project includes resurfacing the road and installing traffic signals.

City spokeswoman Louise Kim McCoy said, "Of course we want to address their concerns, but work needs to be done. So we have many citizens who also say, ‘Fix the roads.’ We’re trying to do that."

The city will hold an informational meeting 6:30 tonight at the McKinley High School cafeteria.

McCoy said the nine-months work estimate is based on daytime work and that night work would increase efficiency. She could not say how much time would be saved. "However, the impact of doing the work during the day will be the traffic jam created for the nine-month period," she said.

The city was required to mail notices to all addresses within 500 feet of the project area and published a public notice.

Larry Blanko, Royal Capitol Plaza operations manager, said: "Why are they doing this? It’s not right. I don’t live here, but if it was in my (neighborhood), I would say, ‘No way.’ During the wee hours of the morning, it’s going to hit our building. We have a lot of senior citizens, and it’ll be very traumatic for them."