Eleven inches of old pavement on Waialae Avenue will be removed and a new surface laid as the city begins a $9.3 million project to fix the potholed, crumbling road.
The city started work in July on the 16-month repaving project to run through Kaimuki from Kapahulu to 17th avenues and along a few side streets.
It is just one of a number of city repaving projects.
"There’ll be a lot of inconvenience," City Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi warned, adding that "we have to live with this inconvenience in order to get something good."
The hassles will include temporary loss of parking stalls, a prospect that concerns business owners.
Contractor Grace Pacific Corp. is expected to do the bulk of the work from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily but will include some night work, for which the city has already gotten a noise variance from the state Health Department.
The project is expected to be completed in December 2013. It includes an area mauka of Waialae from 13th Avenue to Ekaha and Hoku avenues.
"In the past two years, the Council increased the budget to fix our roads from $45 million to $100 million," said Kobayashi, the Council’s budget chairwoman.
City Design and Construction Director Lori Kahikina said the Council previously budgeted $45 million for road projects. That amount jumped to $77 million in the past three years, and this is the first year the Council pushed it to $100 million.
Despite the larger budgets, she said, "There is only so much the contractor can do."
Grace Pacific has typically been the low bidder and won the city’s contracts since it owns the only asphalt plants on Oahu.
"There’s no legal way I can spread that work around," she said.
The city has other repavement projects going in Makakilo, Waikele, Waipahu, Kalihi, Mililani, Ewa Beach, Pearl City and Wahiawa.
Kobayashi and Councilman Stanley Chang announced the Waialae project Thursday at 9th Avenue, the dividing line between their Council districts and an area that also illustrates the roadways’ poor conditions. Work includes reconstructing driveways and bus pads, adjusting utility manholes and adding new curbs.
Waialae has been repaved many times, Chang said, and the old surface has caused drainage and traffic problems.
"We’re doing this project right," he said.
Still, some business owners are worried.
"I’ll be losing a lot of meter parking," said Jinjie Praseuth Luangkhot, owner of JJ Bistro & French Pastry and Crab City on Waialae near 9th. "It will affect my business. Nighttime should be no problem."
Ron Irwin, owner of Indige Design nearby, said, "I drive Waialae every day. It’s one of the worst roads in Honolulu."
"I saw a car hit a pothole, and the back axle came off," he said. "The wheels kept going down the road."
"I hope people will have access to our business," Irwin said, adding the contractor needs to be conscientious about not coning off areas when no work is being done.
"I think it’ll be wonderful to be able to drive on a nice, new Waialae Avenue," he said.
