KAPA‘A — Excitement was the word of the day among teachers, parents and children Monday morning at Kapa‘a Middle School as the new school year got underway. The county, however, was still playing catch up. Teacher Leslie Vito, whose daughter
KAPA‘A — Excitement was the word of the day among teachers, parents and children Monday morning at Kapa‘a Middle School as the new school year got underway.
The county, however, was still playing catch up. Teacher Leslie Vito, whose daughter attends the school, was surprised when she turned onto Malu Road to reach the roundabout accessing Olohena Road and saw a construction crew there.
“Great, now I have to sit and wait on traffic,” she told herself, stressing to arrive at school on time. Kapa‘a Middle School is located just up the street on Olohena Road.
“So we waited, and waited, and waited,” Vito said. “All the traffic was backed up because of the little project they’re working on right now.”
Deputy County Engineer Ed Ranaud promised on June 16 that before the new school year would start, the Public Works Department would lay a cement access to the path many students use to walk from the housing complex at Malu Road to the middle school.
On the first day of school, however, the project was still incomplete and a construction crew was on site.
“We are running a little behind schedule,” the Department of Public Works said in a statement.
The work is being done in phases. The pouring of the concrete for the Olohena Road portion is scheduled for this morning. On Thursday, the department is hoping to pour the concrete for the Malu Road segment.
“If all goes well, the forms will be removed and the striping will be done early next week,” the Public Works statement says. “Once that phase is complete we will move on to the construction of the sidewalk from the roundabout to the park.”
In the meantime, another parent, who asked not to be identified, said she was stressing to get her daughter to school on time. She said she couldn’t believe a county crew was working on the road on the first day of school.
“If you noticed, the parking lot is full, the street (parking) is full,” said Vito, showing how busy the school was on Monday.
But if Monday seemed like a bad day, it could get much worse if the project is not ready today. Monday was an orientation day for the sixth-graders only. Today the seventh- and eighth-graders start classes, she said.
Many children from the housing complex at Malu Road will be walking up the hill to the school, regardless of the completion of the project.
“It would be nice if they got the stairs finished so that those kids could walk up here,” Vito said. “Most of their parents don’t drive, they just say ‘walk up the hill,’ so it hasn’t been safe for a long time.”
In October 2009, a county crew removed an unsafe stairway at the intersection of Olohena and Malu roads. The area remained without any subsequent improvements until this recent project.
Ranaud told council members during the June 16 meeting that it was a “long, dragged-out project.” He said the state Department of Transportation would be working alongside the county.
He recalled in June a “thorough conversation” he had with DOT district engineer Ray McCormick.
“I’ll be working with his engineer, Stanford, very shortly. I’m going to try to push so I can get with him before the end of the week,” Ranaud said at the time. “We are moving already on our side, planning on getting the concrete ordered. I want to be sure we are there when everything is ready to go.”
On Monday, 45 days later, almost everything seemed ready to go but not done yet.
Kaua‘i County Councilwoman Lani Kawahara also was concerned about completing the project before school resumed.
“I definitely appreciate the timing in trying to get it done while the school is out, before the kids get back,” she said at the June meeting. “This is a real live exercise in making our community more walkable.”
The project includes a crosswalk from the housing complex to the other side of Malu Road, a cement sidewalk to the intersection of Malu and Olohena roads, and a switchback cement path connecting to the path on Olohena Road that goes all the way up to the school.
“We have a lot of pukas (holes) on Kaua‘i where we put amenities but have not connected them right. This was one of the pukas,” Councilman Tim Bynum said in June.
“I was surprised, frankly, that the scope of the work was complete, that it connected low-income housing all the way to the park and that (Ranaud) was making a commitment to get it done so quickly,” he said. “The county doesn’t usually move that quick.”
Despite the delay, Bynum said he is glad there’s a crew working on it.
The cement path wasn’t the only thing that was supposed to be done before the start of school. The DOT apparently poorly placed the roundabout’s crosswalk linking the housing complex to Kapa‘a Ball Park.
Ranaud said in June that the DOT would re-stripe that crosswalk, placing it where it should be. The crosswalk is supposed to be moved back one-car length, because as it is now, drivers have to simultaneously pay attention to pedestrians and oncoming cars, creating safety issues for residents coming to and from the park.
“I’m surprised there hasn’t been any accidents,” Vito said. “It’s a heavily populated area there.”
But Vito remained optimistic.
“Hopefully, that’s going to be done soon because we have to sit in there everyday,” she said.
