Heavy rains once again left deep trenches in some Kaiminani Drive shoulders. Heavy rains once again left deep trenches in some Kaiminani Drive shoulders. ADVERTISING Sunday’s incident was the second time in about a month heavy rains have washed out
Heavy rains once again left deep trenches in some Kaiminani Drive shoulders.
Sunday’s incident was the second time in about a month heavy rains have washed out shoulders in the area.
Public Works Director Warren Lee said Tuesday the area where the shoulders washed out, leaving rocks fist-sized and larger, as well as gravel, across the main road and intersections with side streets, will be repaved when the county project’s second phase begins sometime next year. Right now, the county is working on the upper portion of Kaiminani, above Ahiahi Street, Lee said.
No shoulders washed out in the county’s project area, where work is nearly complete, Lee said. The areas affected by Sunday’s rain were within an area in which Hawaiian Electric Light Co. and a contractor have been working for several months, Lee said. If the wash out was caused by HELCO’s construction sites, the company and its contractor are required to repair the shoulder. In areas HELCO was not working, county crews would come and perform the cleanup, he said.
HELCO was only required to return the shoulders to the state they were in before construction began, Lee added. When Hawaii County’s crews begin working below Ahiahi Street — Lee said he hopes to take the project out to bid before the end of this year and award a contract in the first quarter next year — repaving the shoulders and improving drainage are both planned.
“Everything is working in sequence,” Lee said. “There’s logic to it.”
The Kaiminani project’s second phase runs from Ahiahi Street to the volunteer fire station.
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