Honolulu mayor touts road re-paving project

MILILANI, OAHU (HawaiiNewsNow) - "As of last week, we have re-paved over 317 lane miles. So we're ahead of our goal, and we have three months left". Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell was quick to tout a record year of road improvements in Mililani Monday.

The Mayor plans to re-pave 1500 lane miles over a five year period in Honolulu, with the goal of re-paving 300 miles each year.

Another win for the administration is the project staying within budget so far.

"We have a contingency amount, which is 10% which is put in part of our project costs, and so for the most part, it hasn't exceeded the 10%" said Chris Takashige.

One hundred million dollars were budgeted for fiscal year 2013, with the Mayor asking for 150 million in F.Y. 2014. The City Council has appropriated 120 million dollars, but may look to bolster that number based on the early success.

"I don't believe we should have much of a problem working with the administration to ensure we can get some additional monies appropriated next year" said Councilman Ikaika Anderson.

One of the more notable projects slated for the start of 2014 is the rehabilitation of Mililani's main thoroughfare, the Meheula Parkway.

"They have beautiful monkey pod trees in the median strips of Meheula parkway. You notice a lot of the time you bump over the roots, so it's taken longer to get the design part done and to work with arborists to make sure we don't damage those trees" noted Mayor Caldwell.

While there have been such delays and the usual inconveniences of road construction, the results have been promising, as noted by Councilman Stanley Chang.

"We've gone in just one year from having the second worst roads to the 18th worst roads. We've already seen a lot of progress in just one year. By the end of five years we should be near the top of that list instead of near the bottom of that list".

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