The state Department of Transportation announced Tuesday that Maui contractor Alpha Inc. has been selected to replace the 94-year-old Waiaka Stream Bridge at the intersection of Kawaihae Road and Kohala Mountain Road in Waimea.
Alpha’s winning bid of just over $21.7 million includes a new bridge that would be approximately 53 feet wide by 80 feet long to accommodate two travel lanes — one in each direction — a roadway shoulder or bike lane, and raised sidewalk for safer pedestrian access, according to the DOT.
The intersection, which was described as “a really bad” last August by state Sen. Tim Richards, a Waimea Democrat, would be replaced by a roundabout 130-feet in diameter.
A starting date for construction has not yet been determined. Previous estimates had construction starting in June and completion targeted for June 2028.
The new structure would replace the existing bridge, which is a curved-concrete structure about 26 feet wide with a bolted-on 3-foot wooden walkway. The current bridge has provided a major link between the east side of Hawaii to the west side, including Kawaihae Harbor, for its entire existence.
According to National Bridge Inventory Standards ratings — conducted every other year — an inspection of the Waiaka Stream Bridge produced a score of 26 out of 100.
Due to such a low rating, the bridge is deemed “structurally deficient” — although not considered unsafe — and qualifies to receive a federal grant.
A final environmental assessment, which found no significant environmental impact would result from the bridge’s construction, was published by the state in July 2022.
A mock roundabout, using cones, was set up over two days in August at the Waimea-Kohala Airport, with truckers driving tractor-trailer rigs through the trial course and providing their feedback to state transportation officials, according to Richards, who described the experimental event as “our little truck rodeo.”
“I appreciate the truckers,” Richards said earlier this month. “… We designated some areas, lined it all out to make sure the truckers could drive them. And they did, and they found one big flaw. On the right turn out to Kawaihae, they couldn’t make the turn without finding the island. And if they climbed the island, they would need an escort — somebody to jump out and hold traffic on one side and everything. So, we adjusted the circle inside to make sure that … they could make that turn without having an escort.
“This is a big one for us. That bridge has been in need of repair for a long time.”
One of the factors that’s held up the project the past few years was the need to acquire portions of adjacent properties. One holdout was comedian and actress Roseanne Barr, who owns two Big Island properties through her Big Buck Trust, including the former Kamuela Museum site in the Lalamilo Houselots area near the bridge.
Barr launched an online campaign in 2014 in an effort to save the current bridge from demolition.
According to the county’s property tax website, Big Buck Trust still owns the former museum site.
Barr sold her 46-acre macadamia nut farm near Honokaa for $2.6 million in October to Diana Ostermann of South Haven, Mich.
Email John Burnett at john.burnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
