Mayor Kirk Caldwell delivered the first quarterly report Monday on what he hopes will be an unprecedented push to repair Honolulu’s crumbling roads.
The city, Caldwell said, has repaved 77 lane-miles across Oahu during his first three months in office.
Fourteen new road projects totaling $106 million have gone out to repaving contractors since February — and that’s on top of 17 roadwork projects underway that total more than $188 million, according to Department of Design and Construction documents released Monday.
Caldwell called the road repaving his administration’s top priority. "We’re moving very aggressively and we’re not going to stop," he said.
The briefing also was Caldwell’s latest outreach to City Council members to support the size — and price tag — of his repaving plan. He aims to have nearly 1,500 of the city’s more than 3,500 lane-miles repaved in the next five years, budgeting $100 million in 2013 and then $150 million in the remaining years.
"I’m hoping they’ll come close to my $150 million that I’ve requested," he said Monday. "Whatever money we get from the Council, we’ll put it to work."
However, even as the City Council has gradually boosted Honolulu’s repaving budget in recent years, some members remain concerned about the city’s ability to put those additional dollars to work — and whether contractors can get work done in a timely fashion.
"Despite perceptions by some, we actually do encumber the money that is given to us by the City Council," Caldwell said Monday. There’s generally a two-year lag from the time the Council appropriates the funds to the point the repaving is finished, he said.
Converting all that cash into roadwork across Oahu will be a challenge with only a handful of repaving companies and limited city staff — but it’s doable if everyone adds resources, say contractors and officials. On Monday, Caldwell said he would put out calls to the local contractors doing work on the islands, including Grace Pacific Corp., Road and Highway Builders LLC and Jas. W. Glover Ltd., to make sure they’re moving forward with the work.
"It’s great if all this can be done," Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi said Monday. "When the work gets done is another question. I’m cautiously optimistic. I know the mayor is trying the best he can."
Councilman Stanley Chang, who has expressed doubts that the city would be able to spend so much money on roads in a short amount of time, was also cautiously optimistic Monday.
"I welcome this administration’s change of tune (compared to prior administrations), and I do hope that their lofty goals will be achieved," Chang said. "In principle, the more resources the better. We’ll continue to look at that as it moves through the budget process and continue to ask further questions."
Areas with roadwork projects underway include Mililani, Kailua, Waimanalo, Pearl City, McCully/Moiliili, Makiki, Kalihi Valley and Ewa Beach.
Some of the areas slated for future roadwork under the new contracts include Waialae Avenue, Aina Haina, Ward Avenue, Pensacola Street, Beretania Street, Hawaii Kai, Waipio Gentry, Punchbowl, Kalama Valley and others.
Caldwell also pledged to better coordinate Honolulu’s road-repaving schedule with the Board of Water Supply and other utility companies. "We don’t want to pave a road and then rip it up. That’s crazy," Caldwell said.
"I’m not going to promise it’s going to be perfect, either," he added. If a road is in particularly bad condition, "I might say ‘pave’" even if utilities are scheduled to cut into it shortly after, he said.
It’s also not clear yet how the city would fund $150 million a year in work. Caldwell had proposed a 5-cent-per-gallon fuel tax increase to generate an additional $15 million for road repaving, but a Council majority rejected it, saying the increase would add too heavy a burden on motorists.
"I’m open to any other measures," he said Monday, including Councilman Ikaika Anderson’s proposed vehicle user fee, which would cover electric cars in addition to gas-fueled vehicles. "I do think it makes sense to tie road usage to some kind of payment system," Caldwell said.
Status of Honolulu road repair projects
