Question: What is that racket going on near the Ala Wai? It’s some kind of construction, but man, is it loud. It reverberates. My unit is across the way, and you can’t escape the noise.

Q: I’m hoping you can help me how I can learn more about some construction that is taking place near my residence. They have dug a big hole between Ala Wai Elementary School and Ala Wai Community Park, at the end of University Avenue. I live in a condo across the canal from the construction, and there is an incredible level of constant noise from the machinery all day long, every weekday. I’d like to find out what they are doing and how long it is expected to last.

Answer: The noise, which has inspired several questions to Kokua Line recently, is from Hawaiian Electric Co.’s work to lay new electrical cables under the Ala Wai Canal that won’t interfere with the state’s future dredging of the urban waterway.

Although HECO’s work is scheduled to continue through early next year, some of the loudest elements are finished or will wrap up soon. It should be quieter after Wednesday, “but not dead silent, as construction often means noise. We appreciate the understanding of the neighbors,” said HECO spokesman Peter Rosegg.

Wednesday’s work, though, will be noisy, as a drill rig and mud recycler will be used during the “pipe pull” on the Kaiolu Street side of the canal. That process will take seven or eight hours, he said.

HECO is installing 46-kilovolt electrical cables about 40 feet below the canal using horizontal drilling. Once the new cables are in service, HECO will remove the existing, shallower ones, which were installed in 1990, and risked being damaged by the state’s dredging to remove silt and debris from the canal for flood control. When the canal was dredged 15 years ago, the contractor had to work around the electrical cables.

The hole between the school and the park that the second reader referred to is one of two trenches being dug on land for the project; the other is on Kaiolu Street makai of the canal. Other elements of the project don’t require trenching because they reuse underground duct banks along University Avenue and Hihiwai Street.

Here is HECO’s description of the Ala Wai Canal Cable Relocation Project’s main elements:

>> Trenching and installing cables from the Waikiki Substation on Kaiolu Street to Ala Wai Boulevard

>> Horizontal directional drilling and installing cables under Ala Wai Canal and Ala Wai Boulevard from the Ala Wai Neighborhood Park to Kaiolu Street

>> Trenching and installing cables from Ala Wai Neighborhood Park to Hihiwai Street

>> Installing cables along Hihiwai to Kamoku streets using existing underground ducts

>> Installing cables along University Avenue using existing underground ducts

>> Removal of old cables from the Ala Wai Canal

HECO began the work in August and, as mentioned, expects to finish it early next year, before the canal is dredged near the new cables.

Mahalo

When someone anonymously turns in a lost item, we rarely get a chance to thank them in person. I did! I had carelessly set my handbag down at Goodwill and walked away from it. Several minutes later I realized I had lost it. I went to the office, and against all odds, someone had turned it in. The manager said, “It was the lady with the dog.” Two days later I was downtown and saw the lady with the dog. I approached her and asked if she had been the person who turned in my bag. “Yes! I was hoping I’d get to meet you.” Tears and hugs. I said, “Because of you, I’m even more motivated to do good deeds whenever I can.” — Pam Chambers

Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.