Tribune-Herald
Tribune-Herald
Emergency repairs on the Umauma bridge near Hakalau are anticipated to be complete in December, according to the state Department of Transportation.
The work and concerns over the stability of the 278-foot span on Highway 19 has caused traffic limitations to be put in place, beginning Aug. 3.
Currently, access is limited to one direction at a time, a 25 mph speed limit is being enforced, and trucks weighing more than 25 tons are prohibited from crossing.
The emergency repairs to the bridge’s supporting steel structure are anticipated to cost $4 million.
That work will be followed by a more extensive $30.8 million rehabilitation project that will last about two years.
Rehabilitation was anticipated to begin in September but was put on hold when inspectors found deterioration on the lateral supports to be more extensive than anticipated.
That work will involve the construction of concrete support towers within the existing steel towers, widening of the bridge deck and roadway shoulders to 44 feet, and installation of a new concrete railing.
DOT has said traffic impacts during that project will be limited.
The bridge, near the 16-mile marker, was built in 1911 to support railroad tracks over the Umauma Stream.
It was labeled structurally deficient in 2007.