Question: What is going on with all the large road machines parked along Moanalua Road and also in my neighborhood in Waimalu? Are they going to be resurfacing the streets, and if so, which streets? Will they resurface Moanalua between Kaahumanu and Kaonohi, which is a terrible potholed area? What are they going to be doing, and what is the time frame?
Answer: Three resurfacing projects are taking place simultaneously in the Pearl City and Waimalu areas, one involving the state Department of Transportation and the other two the City and County of Honolulu.
The state is resurfacing the Pearl City freeway interchange, including Moanalua Road, where the paving equipment is staged, said Lori Kahikina, director of the city Department of Design and Construction.
The city’s “Rehabilitation of Streets, Unit 51” project will continue the paving of Moanalua Road from the interchange to Pali Momi Street. The work will include Hoomaemae Street between Waimano Home Road and Hoolaulea Street; Hoomalu Street between Waimano Home and Moanalua roads; and Kaahumanu Street from Kamehameha Highway.
Moanalua Road, between the Aiea freeway interchange and Pali Momi Street, recently was resurfaced under a separate project, Kahikina said.
A second city project — “Localized Rehabilitation of Streets, Phase 1” — will tackle your neighborhood.
That project will involve paving residential roadways in the Waimalu subdivisions north and south of Moanalua Road, accounting for additional paving equipment along those roadways.
Kahikina said the city’s two projects are “anticipated” to be completed by summer and that motorists can expect “to enjoy a smooth-riding, rehabilitated Moanalua Road from the Aiea to Pearl City interchange.”
Road Repair Information
We receive many complaints about the state of various roads in neighborhoods and districts throughout Oahu, so we asked how the public could find out what might be on the city’s street repair schedule.
A pothole repair schedule previously was posted on the city’s Drive Akamai website, but that service disappeared because of a lack of funding.
Meanwhile, “street rehabilitation work” is prioritized based on complaints received and feedback from road maintenance crews, explained Westley Chun, director of the city Department of Facility Maintenance, which handles pothole repairs.
You can report a pothole to the city’s pothole hot line at 768-7777. You are asked to provide the closest address and lane direction the pothole is in.
“We will make every effort to fill in the pothole within two weeks,” Chun said. But he added that a pothole less than 2 inches deep might not be filled because the filling can easily wash away.
Weekly reports on where potholes generally have been filled can be found on the city’s Facebook site: www.facebook.com/honolulu.gov?sk=wall.
Just scroll down the page until you find the Facility Maintenance weekly pothole repair report. For the week of Feb. 5-11, the tally of repairs was Honolulu 529, Waialua 207, Pearl City 298 and Wahiawa 52. Total: 1,086.
Just remember that pothole repair is meant to be “a temporary fix to keep our streets in a drivable condition until we are able to rehabilitate it through a Department of Design and Construction project,” Chun said.
For general information on what roads the city is working on, check the Facebook site or go to Honolulu.gov and click on “News Release” to find the latest weekly report.
Mahalo
To all the people who cleaned the sidewalk along University Avenue, makai from King Street, Saturday morning, Feb. 11. They took away all the rubbish and cut the grass. It looks beautiful. — University Avenue resident.
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