Local opposition to proposed hours of night construction work on the Hanalei Bridge has caused further delay of a bridge-strengthening project, according to the general contractor. “There was a lot of local opposition to the hours that had been set
Local opposition to proposed hours of night construction work on the Hanalei Bridge has caused further delay of a bridge-strengthening project, according to the general contractor.
“There was a lot of local opposition to the hours that had been set up by the state,” said Gail Svoboda, owner of general contractor Abhe & Svoboda, Inc.
“The bridge was supposed to be closed from 10 (at night) ’til six in the morning, and the local residents just felt that that’d be an undue burden on them, so I know there have been discussions about changing those hours and trying to work something out so that the bridge would be closed for a shorter period of time,” said Svoboda. “So we’ve been working with the state in that regard.”
Glenn Yamamoto, acting Kaua’i district engineer with the state Department of Transportation Highways Division, said the notice to proceed was issued to Abhe & Svoboda on May 8, and that work will occur between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. Sunday through Thursday.
Svoboda said the manufactured structural steel components are on site, and work should begin shortly.
The company has been working on the expansion of the Waikaea Canal bridge to four lanes in Kapa’a. The project is behind schedule, but apparently won’t affect the start-up of the Hanalei Bridge work.
Both the state and residents wished to have the bridge strengthened so that it could accommodate vehicles up to two tons (4,000 pounds), and that is the work Abhe & Svoboda will accomplish, Svoboda said.
The contract calls for installation of new steel trusses to increase the load and traffic capacity of the bridge, which will remain one lane, he said.
The Hanalei Bridge is actually two bridges. The upper bridge, which gives the Hanalei Bridge its landmark look, was opened in 1912 and is a Pratt truss. The lower bridge, which supports most of the weight of vehicles crossing the bridge, is a Warren pony truss and was built in 1967.
Work will be done on both the 1967 bridge and on the rusting Pratt truss, Yamamoto said.
The Hanalei community has lobbied for decades to keep the single-lane bridge in place. At different times, highway plans have called for replacing it with a modern bridge, including a low-profile double-land concrete bridge.
All the rusted sections will be replaced, and work will be done on some of the structural-bearing features as well, Yamamoto added.
Currently, wide-mesh metal wire surrounds some sections of the Pratt truss to keep large sections of rust from striking passing vehicles.
There was information circulating in the community that Abhe & Svoboda had to renegotiate the contract because it did not have the necessary license to paint the bridge. That is not correct, Svoboda said.
“We’ve been licensed to paint bridges in the state of Hawai’i for 16 years now,” he said.
A delay occurred in awarding the contract while questions were raised about one of the project’s subcontractors, he noted.
“There was a long delay in the award of this contract because there’s a certain portion of the contract that is set aside to be awarded to disadvantaged businesses.
“The state for awhile was taking the position that the disadvantaged business that we intended to use to do the painting work was not in fact qualified to paint structural steel,” he said.
Abhe & Svoboda appealed that position to the U.S. Department of Transportation, and prevailed. The appeal delayed awarding of the bid for six to eight months, Svoboda said.
