Question: Is the city planning to put traffic cameras in Kailua and show them on its traffic camera page — www1.honolulu.gov/cameras/fastcheck.htm? Kaneohe was just added a year or so ago, and Kailua is shown on the fast check map. Oh, and a Windward tip: The traffic cameras are the easiest way to get an instant spot-check on the weather over there in Honolulu.
Answer: It’s been three years, since May 2010, that the city installed and activated 18 traffic cameras in Kaneohe.
But it’s uncertain when the handy traffic cams can be installed in Kailua.
The Department of Transportation Services had hired consultants to do the design work for cameras in the Kapolei, Waipio and Kailua areas, said Director Michael Formby.
That work was completed for 19 cameras in Kapolei and 17 in Waipio, and those projects are in construction. The Kapolei cameras are expected to be up by the end of this year, and the Waipio cameras, by the summer of 2014, Formby said.
The cost for both projects is about $3.9 million.
The problem in Kailua is with the installation of fiber-optic cables that carry video signals from the cameras to the city’s Traffic Management Center. The initial plans were to install the cables on existing wood poles to reduce costs.
As part of design requirements, Hawaiian Electric Co. required an analysis of the existing wood poles to ensure they were able to support the additional weight of the fiber-optic cable, Formby explained.
An analysis determined that the city would need to upgrade more than 250 wood poles before installing the fiber-optic cable, he said.
But upgrading the wood poles was "cost-prohibitive," Formby said, and the department is now researching less costly alternatives for getting the fiber-optic cable into the Kailua area.
Question: What ever happened to the plan to put power lines underground on Ala Moana in the area of Discovery Bay? It’s been a year since they worked on that project, and the lines are still there.
Answer: No power lines are involved in the state Department of Transportation’s continuing work on the Nimitz Highway and Ala Moana Boulevard Resurfacing and Highway Lighting Replacement Project.
"The remaining work includes cable and phone utility work, which is happening on weeknights, to pull the cables underground," said DOT spokeswoman Caroline Sluyter.
She explained that the existing overhead poles cannot be removed until the utilities are installed underground and are operating.
All work is scheduled to be completed by December, including removal of existing overhead lines and wooden poles, "barring any unforeseen circumstances," Sluyter said.
See is.gd/E8HSu1 for more information about the project.
MAHALO
To several hundred Mormon Helping Hands-Hawaii volunteers who again did a fantastic cleanup of Patsy T. Mink Central Oahu Regional Park, especially the 20-court Tennis Complex, on Saturday, April 27. The dedication and hours of hard labor pruning hibiscus plants, removing overgrown weeds, spreading mulch around trees and perimeter of the tennis courts, and just doing a bang-up volunteer effort made the tennis complex look like how it was many years ago. Those of us who witnessed these volunteers enthusiastically at work have nothing but admiration for a job well done. — Tom Sugita, Pearl City
