Fix It! This Kāneʻohe Road Is Overdue For Repair
Kea’ahala Road connects Kāneʻohe town to major state facilities, but it’s been 20 years since it was properly repaved, and sidewalks are impassable for many.
A visit to bucolic Kea’ahala Road on Oʻahu’s Windward side can easily leave you thinking that time – and the city’s road maintenance crews – have passed it by.
The roadway is hardly a scenic detour, more of a time warp.
It’s also the main car and pedestrian connector between Kāneʻohe town and a state land parcel mauka of Kahekili Highway that includes Windward Community College, the Kāneʻohe District Courthouse, Windward Comprehensive Health Center, Kāneʻohe District Park and the Hawaiʻi State Hospital.
Over 150 cars are estimated to be driving mauka from Kamehameha Highway to those facilities during morning rush hour — and that was according to a 2009 estimate.
Avoiding The Sidewalk
A visit to the area last week showed years of wear have taken their toll, with long stretches of uneven road surface and a single sidewalk corrugated and overgrown.
But since Vanessa Race bought her house on Kea’ahala Road in 2003, the half-mile stretch between Kahekili Highway and Kamehameha Highway has never been improved, she said Thursday in an interview.
“It’s really noticeable when you come down from Windward College and then cross over the highway and you end up on this badly maintained two-lane thoroughfare down to Kāneʻohe,” she said. “So much of it is rutted and really rough. And it’s such a small stretch. I don’t feel like it would take a lot of resources to fix it.”
Race said the sidewalk is also a major pedestrian hazard, and she has seen an older resident tipped out of his mobility scooter while exercising his service animal.
“I see a lot of people taking to the street itself to avoid the sidewalk,” she said.
The City and County of Honolulu has responsibility for that stretch of road, Chassity Santiago, spokeswoman for the Department of Facilities Maintenance, confirmed in an email Thursday.
Overdue Resurfacing
An in-house paving crew from the facilities maintenance department did interim repaving work in 2008 until contract resurfacing could be carried out by the Department of Design and Construction.
Fast forward and that resurfacing is still pending.
The Department of Design and Construction has included Kea’ahala Road in a capital improvement project called “Rehabilitation of Localized Streets,” spokeswoman Cindy Cromwell said in an email.
The full list of DDC’s road paving projects since 2013, which was last updated Sept. 15, shows repaving planning and design work along Kea’ahala Road from Kamehameha Highway to Kamau Place is “ongoing.”
However, the bids for any new construction won’t be going out until December 2026, Cromwell said.
The scope of the rehabilitation projects is more comprehensive and includes milling existing asphalt and resurfacing, reconstructing curbs and sidewalks and relocating utilities, according to previous project bids.
Race said she has also seen Honolulu Bureau of Water Supply crews out on the road frequently and wondered if infrastructure under the street might have added to the issues.
Crews completed a major water infrastructure upgrade along Kea’ahala Road between 2018 and 2021, information officer Kathleen Pahinui said via email Thursday. “We reviewed all BWS excavation work orders for Kea’ahala Rd. and found none near the areas in the photos you shared,” she said.
The last major water main burst there was Feb. 11, she said.
Pahinui asked a BWS supervisor to do a site visit Thursday and inspect areas around recent repairs and sent Civil Beat photos showing immaculately finished patches.
Who Is Responsible?
Routine pothole and sidewalk repairs are carried out by the Honolulu Department of Facility Maintenance, but the Honolulu Department of Design and Construction will be responsible for the major Rehabilitation of Localized Streets project for Kea’ahala Road. The DDC director is Haku Milles, and the administration office phone number is 808-768-8040.
Got A Tip For Fix It!?
Please tell us where the problem is, as specifically as possible. A cellphone photo would be helpful. Here are ways to get in touch:
You can submit in minutes using this form.
You can send us an email at news@civilbeat.org. Put “Fix It” in the subject line so it doesn’t get lost.
You can send a letter to the newsroom at PO Box 10857, Honolulu, HI 96816.
We won’t use your name without your permission but, if we pursue your fix, we will get back to you with what we find.
