Kolekole Beach Park is unlikely to reopen before the end of the year — although there’s a slight chance it could open briefly in late spring.
Kolekole closed to the public late last year as the state Department of Transportation began emergency repair work on the overpassing Kolekole Bridge. The park had been open since 2020, after being closed because of lead-contaminated soil discovered in 2017.
Hawaii County Parks and Recreation Director Maurice Messina said the park could reopen in the late spring after the DOT completes its work on the bridge. However, if the bridge work takes too long to finish, then the closure will continue through the rest of the year as Parks and Recreation carries out its own renovation work within the park.
“It might not be able to reopen in the spring at all,” Messina said, adding that Parks and Recreation’s work is scheduled to begin in June.
DOT spokeswoman Shelly Kunishige said the $8 million bridge repair project also is anticipated to end in June, which would preclude the park from opening in the first half of the year.
Messina said the county project will include a series of accessibility renovations that will total about $1.4 million. Those improvements will include adding parking spaces and upgrading bathroom facilities to be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as a series of ADA accessible paths within the park.
The improvements also will include a standalone potable water system, Messina said.
“Once the ADA project is complete, people will find a remarkably upgraded park,” Messina said.
Messina thanked residents for their patience regarding the beleaguered park.
“I understand that Hamakua has very limited beach resources, and that having the park closed does limit beach access for residents,” Messina said, adding that Mayor Mitch Roth and the DOT have been instrumental in coordinating the projects.
As for the lead-contaminated soil in the park, Messina said the affected areas have been cordoned off. Because the contamination originated from DOT infrastructure — the lead paint that once coated the Kolekole Bridge — the contaminated soil will be removed once the DOT secures funding to do so, Messina said.
Kunishige said the soil remediation project will be carried out concurrently with a more permanent bridge repair project. That project will cost an estimated $65 million, will replace significant parts of the bridge’s steel substructure, and is estimated to begin in March 2024.
Kolekole is one of two Hamakua beach parks that have been closed for lead contamination caused by paint on a state-owned bridge. The other, Hakalau Beach park, remains closed indefinitely.
Meanwhile, county Managing Director Lee Lord told the Hawaii County Council in January that Roth had abandoned efforts to gain county control over a trail in Papaikou that is the only access to another Hamakua beach, Papaikou Mill Beach, saying that the county would gain little to offset the costs of doing so.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.