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+--- Thread: beware Saddle Rd. construction (/showthread.php?tid=19421)
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beware Saddle Rd. construction - kalianna - 05-02-2018
We did our monthly cross-island trip to Costco today and were surprised to find construction on the brand new Saddle Rd. around mile marker 12 coming from Hilo. One lane with traffic escort. Waited for 15 min at 11AM and 25 min. (augh!!) coming from Kona after 5 PM. Just checked and it says this will be going on until Fri. for center line rumble strip installation. Wait until next week if you have a choice.
RE: beware Saddle Rd. construction - Kapoho Joe - 05-02-2018
Mahalo!
RE: beware Saddle Rd. construction - Aaron S - 05-03-2018
The safety improvements include a new center line rumble strip and striping. Road and Highway Builders is doing this work from m.m 11 to m.m 51 on the west side (The newest east side phase, betweeem Puainako Street Extension and m.m 11 has these improvements already). Work on these improvements began on May 1st and will take 85 days to complete.
RE: beware Saddle Rd. construction - kalakoa - 05-03-2018
safety improvements include a new center line rumble strip and striping
Dumb question: why weren't these part of the original project? Gaming the budget?
Seems like this kind of thing happens often. The runaway truck ramp on Saddle, for example.
RE: beware Saddle Rd. construction - Aaron S - 05-03-2018
quote:
Originally posted by kalakoa
safety improvements include a new center line rumble strip and striping
Dumb question: why weren't these part of the original project? Gaming the budget?
Seems like this kind of thing happens often. The runaway truck ramp on Saddle, for example.
How can this be gaming the system. Kiewit Pacific Company (now Infrastructure West), Goodfellow Brothers, Kirkland Construction, and Road and Highway Builders were all the prime contractors on this multi phase project. Road and Highway Builders has constructed only two phases, one of which had the safety improvements as a part of the project.
Bear in mind the Saddle Road improvements began in 2004 and wrapped in 2017.
I don't really have a clear answer as to why these safety improvements weren't included earlier, or why the runaway truck ramp was constructed after the fact. It probably came down to how much funding was available at the time each phase went out to bid.
RE: beware Saddle Rd. construction - kalakoa - 05-03-2018
how much funding was available at the time each phase went out to bid
Breaking a single project into multiple pieces so that each piece fits the available funding would be an example of "gaming the system".
Phase 1: build a road
Phase 2: add safety features to road
...when the safety features really should have been part of the road-as-built.
I've worked at places like this: you can spend any amount up to $2500 without executive approval ... so you just buy your $15K worth of new equipment in pieces of less than $2500, then put it together afterwards.
RE: beware Saddle Rd. construction - kalakoa - 05-03-2018
http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/2018/05/03/hawaii-news/queen-kaahumanu-widening-project-cost-increases-to-128-1m/
Department of Transportation ... puts the project cost at $128.1 million, up from the $121.3 million cost released late last year ...
When it broke ground in September 2015, estimates pegged the cost around $90 million.
That's for adding 2 lanes to 5 miles of highway == about $12.81M/lane-mile.
At least it's all one project...
RE: beware Saddle Rd. construction - Aaron S - 05-03-2018
You can believe what you want, but 316.5 million dollars isn't available all at once to complete this project in one shot. This is why there was roughly 8 phases to this 13 year project. The state of Hawaii receives roughly 160 million dollars in FHWA funds each fiscal year to fund highway improvements throughout Hawaii. This is why other funding sources were used to find these improvements, such as Defense Access Roads. The latter is capped at 20 million dollars a year per project.
RE: beware Saddle Rd. construction - Aaron S - 05-03-2018
quote:
Originally posted by kalakoa
http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/2018/05/03/hawaii-news/queen-kaahumanu-widening-project-cost-increases-to-128-1m/
Department of Transportation ... puts the project cost at $128.1 million, up from the $121.3 million cost released late last year ...
When it broke ground in September 2015, estimates pegged the cost around $90 million.
That's for adding 2 lanes to 5 miles of highway == about $12.81M/lane-mile.
At least it's all one project...
The Saddle Road project is roughly 45.7 miles long. The Queen Kaahumanu Highway widening is 5.2 miles long. In other words, the Saddle Road project is roughly 9 times longer than the Queen K project. The Saddle Road project cost 6.1 million dollars a mile; the Queen K widening phase 2 cost 24.6 million a mile.
RE: beware Saddle Rd. construction - Aaron S - 05-04-2018
https://flh.fhwa.dot.gov/projects/hi/saddle-east/
Lane shifts and alternating lane closures on the Daniel K. Inouye Highway Route 200 (Saddle Road) in both directions between Milepost Markers 11.5 and 52 on Tuesday, May 1 through July 2018, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., for installation of centerline rumble strips and pavement markings. Traffic may be required to follow a pilot car through the work zone