PO’IPU – Kaua’i County Mayor Maryanne Kusaka Thursday said the troubled Koloa bypass road should be open before students return to school in August. That is about five months past the initial contractual completion date. Okada Trucking, the contractor hired
PO’IPU – Kaua’i County Mayor Maryanne Kusaka Thursday said the troubled Koloa bypass road should be open before students return to school in August.
That is about five months past the initial contractual completion date.
Okada Trucking, the contractor hired to finish the job, estimates the work to take a month, and has given the county an estimated start date of the first week of July, she said.
The decision was made to add an asphalt overlay onto the existing road to bring it up to contract specifications, something the initial general contractor failed to do, Kusaka said.
Half of the two-mile bypass road, which was planned in part to provide another route out of the south shore in the event of a tsunami, hurricane or other nasty weather, has remained unopened after shortcomings in pavement depth were discovered.
The Po’ipu side of the road is open to traffic.
Once the overlay and striping are completed on the newer, unopened section of the road – about one mile – the entire length of the road should open, likely in August, Kusaka told about 100 members and guests of the Po’ipu Beach Resort Association, gathered at Plantation Gardens restaurant here.
Once open, the road will provide another way in and out of Po’ipu, moving traffic around congested Old Koloa Town.
The road will run from its intersection with Maluhia Road (Tree Tunnel road) near Anne S. Knudsen Park (Koloa ball park) to its intersection with Po’ipu Road near the Hyatt Regency Kaua’i Resort & Spa.
