General contractor Doreen Sanchez Rego had hoped the Koloa bypass road would be completed in time for the recent PGA Grand Slam of Golf in Po’ipu. But inclement weather, difficulty getting a specific type of surfacing to finish the road,
General contractor Doreen Sanchez Rego had hoped the Koloa bypass road would be
completed in time for the recent PGA Grand Slam of Golf in Po’ipu.
But
inclement weather, difficulty getting a specific type of surfacing to finish
the road, and her desire to give the community and island the best possible
road for the contract amount have resulted in unavoidable delays, Sanchez Rego
said.
Doreen Sanchez Rego Contractor Inc. has, by contract, until February
of next year to finish the project, and fully expects the road to be open long
before that.
“I’m trying to get it done as quickly as possible. I know it’s
inconvenient, and I apologize to the people of Po’ipu for that,” Sanchez Rego
said.
“I want the perfect road,” the first one done by her firm. “It’s
going to be nice” and exactly what the community wants and what the federal,
state and county governments are paying for, she said. “I want to be proud of
this road.”
The cost of the entire project is $5 million.
Her company’s
portion of the bypass road contract is between $500,000 and $1 million. Also,
her company is not in financial distress, as some rumors have
indicated.
“We are not having financial problems. I am not going bankrupt,”
she said. The company started by her late husband Louie Rego, Rego’s Trucking
Ltd., is still going strong, she added.
“I did have some tax problems, and
that has been settled,” she said.
Sun Industries will install guardrails,
Asato Painting will do the roadway striping, and another subcontractor will
handle the landscaping. After the asphalt patches are done and the
subcontractors finish their tasks, the road will be done, she said.
“Work
is almost complete,” Mayor Maryanne Kusaka told the Rotary Club of Po’ipu Beach
last week. The contractor has some challenges and is working through those
challenges, Kusaka said.
The November newsletter of the Po’ipu Beach
Resort Association states the county has reported that the opening of the
bypass road will be delayed, possibly until early next year, as issues
surrounding land exchange and right of occupancy are still being worked
out.
Allan A. Smith, vice president of Grove Farm Co. Inc., which owns most
of the land on either side of the road, said Grove Farm has already deeded to
the county the section of the road open to the public. And he said the company
is in the process of deeding over the portions of the land along the
soon-to-open section.
Members of the Knudsen family and the Catholic Church
own other parcels of land along the bypass route, Smith said.
Kusaka is
working with The Outdoor Circle to get a grant for more trees for landscaping
the road. She also is looking for volunteers to help plant trees along the
route, she told Rotarians and guests at a meeting last week.
The mayor said
she told officials in the county Department of Public Works that their names
for roads are “boring and mundane” and that she is going to let the community
name the new bypass.
Lopaka Bukoski, an employee of Lawa’i Beach Resort,
came up with Ala Kinoiki Way and won a $100 gift certificate in a contest to
name the newest county road.
The Po’ipu Beach Resort Association and Koloa
Community Association, in cooperation with the county, joined forces to sponsor
the contest. Organizers said Bukoski’s suggestion was chosen in large part
because of his rationale behind the name.
“The significance of any name in
Hawaiian culture also holds great importance,” Bukoski said. “It marks an
event, assures that one’s family line will continue, or states a physical
feature that a place or a person possesses. In keeping all of these things in
mind, the name I am submitting, Ala Kinoiki – literally meaning ‘Kinoiki’s road
or path’ – pays tribute to Kuhio’s mother, Princess Kinoiki
Kekaulike.”
Also, the new road leads to the south shore, the birthplace of
Prince Kuhio, he said.
Besides the gift certificate, Bukoski will be
invited to attend the roadway dedication ceremony when the second phase
opens.
The road has been called the bypass road or the Koloa bypass road
since the first section opened in 1993.
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis
can be reached at [
HREF=”mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net”>pcurtis@pulitzer.net] or 245-3681 (ext.
224).
