LIHU‘E — County officials have voiced fears that the 35-year-old Olohena Road bridge over ‘Olohena Stream in Wailua Homesteads could deteriorate further and be rendered unusable by motorists, exacerbating traffic conditions in the Kawaihau District, the largest population area on
LIHU‘E — County officials have voiced fears that the 35-year-old Olohena Road bridge over ‘Olohena Stream in Wailua Homesteads could deteriorate further and be rendered unusable by motorists, exacerbating traffic conditions in the Kawaihau District, the largest population area on Kaua‘i.
Mayor Bryan J. Baptiste promised that day will never come, and announced Tuesday the two-lane bridge will be replaced either by the fall or summer of this year.
During a meeting with reporters in his office at the Lihu‘e Civic Center, Baptiste announced that as of last Friday, March 4, bids had been opened for the construction of a new bridge to replace the old bridge.
County leaders are about to award a contract for the work to the lowest bidder, Baptiste said.
He emphasized steps are being taken to ensure the work is done as quickly as possible.
Work will be performed 24 hours a day, cutting the estimated construction time from 10 to 12 months to only six months. The selected contractor also will be offered incentives to complete the work early, Baptiste said.
Although the bridge has gone through minor repairs in the past, the new bridge has to be put in for the safety of the public, Baptiste said.
“The bridge must be replaced expeditiously to protect the safety of our motorists and community,” Baptiste said in a news statement. “It would be irresponsible to delay any longer than necessary in beginning work on the replacement.”
‘Olohena Road offers a popular, quick and convenient route to Kuhio Highway in Kapa‘a for residents of Wailua Homesteads and mauka Kapa‘a. But during most of the construction phase, that route will not be available.
Steps have been taken to ensure ambulances will continue to serve the Kawaihau District effectively while the new bridge is being constructed, Baptiste said.
During the work on the bridge, a fully equipped, American Medical Response ambulance will be positioned on the mauka side of the bridge.
The ambulance will be removed when work on the bridge is done, according to Zack Octavio, who heads American Medical Response on Kaua‘i.
When medical personnel respond to a call in mauka areas of Kapa‘a and Wailua Homesteads, an ambulance crew will drive to the makai side of the bridge, get out of the vehicle with some equipment, and walk on a footpath to get to the other ambulance, Baptiste said.
The medical team will then proceed to the site from which the medical call was made, Baptiste said. “It (the strategy) will knock five minutes off the travel time,” Octavio said. “When you talk about saving time, you are going to save lives.”
Residents support replacement of the old bridge, but criticized county officials for being shortsighted in not implementing other transportation options while the bridge is being replaced.
So that traffic through neighborhoods in the Kawaihau District would not be adversely impacted during the replacement of the bridge, they suggested a temporary bridge be constructed next to the bridge that is to be replaced.
Residents also suggested the county cover the cost of building a bypass road that would run from the temporary Kapa‘a bypass road to the road that leads to the old bridge.
That option would have involved building a bypass road over land by the bridge that is owned by actress and singer Bette Midler.
Another bypass was proposed through land by Ka‘apuni Road in Kapa‘a.
County officials fielded those concerns from residents, Baptiste indicated.
But those options weren’t feasible and or were too costly, considering the relatively short time it should take to replace the old bridge, Baptiste said.
For one bypass-road configuration, “estimates show that a temporary bypass would require approximately $300,000, while saving motorists less than 10 minutes of driving time, approximately four miles,” Baptiste said.
Baptiste also noted that the current ‘Olohena Road bridge has a weight capacity of seven tons, and some residents felt the new bridge should have the same weight capacity.
“The attitude was to have the same type of bridge and do the bridge and drop it in place,” he said.
Instead, the new bridge will have a 20ton capacity, enough to sustain the weight of 20-ton fire trucks that could respond to future emergencies or fires in the Kapa‘a area, Baptiste said.
“I don’t know if they (fire-fighters) are driving over the bridge now, but they better not (for their safety and that of motorists),” Baptiste said.
To get to fires or emergencies in the mauka areas of Kawaihau District, fire vehicles will most likely travel on ‘Olohena, Kuamo‘o and Kamalu and Waipouli roads, Baptiste indicated. Those roads bring motorists to Kawaihau Road and to Kuhio Highway, two major thoroughfares serving the Kawaihau District.
Residents are concerned that without the use of the ‘Olohena Road bridge during the replacement of the bridge, their drive time through the Kawaihau District will take much longer due to many more vehicles on other roads in the area.
They also are concerned that alternate roads motorists could be using, including upper Waipouli Road, could be substandard or too rutted to safely accommodate heavier traffic flow.
Baptiste said those folks needn’t worry unnecessarily. Kaua‘i County Department of Public Works officials are taking steps to perform repairs to those roads, the mayor said of the project.
Lester Chang, staff writer, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) or lchang@pulitzer.net.
