• Olohena Bridge Olohena Bridge The monthly Ka Leo meeting at the Wailua Homesteads park is now history. With all due respect to the moderators who have run these meetings for the 12 to 15 times I have attended have
• Olohena Bridge
Olohena Bridge
The monthly Ka Leo meeting at the Wailua Homesteads park is now history. With all due respect to the moderators who have run these meetings for the 12 to 15 times I have attended have done their jobs commendably, however these gettogethers are an exercise in futility.
For instance, the one hot button item that has been brought up by attendees for over a year has been completely disregarded by this administration.
this issue which will affect thousands of people who use Olohena road is the rebuilding of the olohena bridge without a useable bypass bridge or alternate route while construction is being done for 7 to 18 months!
The Garden Island’s Lester Chang wrote an outstanding article about this bridge and what the repercussions of not having an alternate bridge will mean to those many motorists using this road on a daily basis. The emergency response people and the fire department have gone on record as saying that it will take them 8 to 10 minutes longer to get into the Homesteads by using the alternate route proposed by this administration. This delay could cost someone their life or it could cause a home to burn with a possible legal action to follow.
However, the administration’s attitude is just rebuild that bridge and forget any bypass while it is being done.
Also, this proposed alternate route up Kawaihau Road, over Kainahola Road and Upper Waipouli Road to Olohena Road will be a disaster waiting to happen. These are narrow roads never meant for heavy traffic one lane bridge, 90 degree blind curves, and an illegally paved 13′ wide road that has been narrowed to 12 feet or less from all the rain. Traffic that doesn’t know about the detour will obviously be driving faster to get to their destination increasing the accident factor.
They will also be using Hauiki Road and lower Waipouli Road to get back to Olohena and these farm roads have animals, children, and people walking on them and will just be an accident waiting to happen.
The bids are now out for this project so, Mr Mayor, show your constituents that you do care about them and “operate from the heart” by building that by pass bridge!
Glenn Mickens
Kapa‘a
