4 rail stations in project’s airport segment expected to be done by year’s end

The joint venture company that nearly seven years ago got an $875 million Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation contract to build elevated rail and stations from areas east of Halawa to Kalihi outlined its efforts this week.

In 2016, STG — comprising Shimmick Construction Co. Inc., Traylor Bros Inc. and Granite Construction Inc. — was tasked with designing and building the Airport Guideway and Stations project consisting of 5.2 miles of elevated guideway, four stations and associated facilities from Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam to the Middle Street transit center.

During a virtual business and community meeting Tuesday afternoon, the contractor provided a presentation that showed construction of the four stations — Makalapa, Lelepaua, Ahua and Kahauiki — is expected to be finished before the end of the year.

“We’ve 97% of our project completed,” Maribell Pabalan, an STG spokesperson, said. “And the 5.2-mile alignment is underway, so that means ongoing roadway restorations.”

Makalapa Station — itself 97% completed — will serve the joint base area near Kamehameha Highway and Radford Drive. It will feature a side platform with one entrance and offer access to TheBus and related services. Pabalan said the Makalapa Station also had one distinguishing feature that separated it from the three other stations in the Airport Guideway project: “escalators. Everybody else has stairs, of course, and elevators.”

Lelepaua Station — also deemed 97% complete — will serve the area closest to Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, including the surrounding business district and Salt Lake area. This station will feature pedestrian bridges and walkways to the airport’s terminals.

With construction at 93% completion, Ahua Station at Lagoon Drive and Waiwai Loop will serve surrounding businesses and Mapunapuna. Constructed in the shape of Hawaii’s endemic owl, or pueo, this station features two planned entrances, a side platform and a kiss-and-ride lot but offers no parking.

And because of the work to this station, Waiwai Loop had been turned into a 24/7 one-way westbound thoroughfare.

“So our construction notice right now says it’s ongoing through April 30,” said Pabalan. “I’ve just been informed that we are anticipating it to return to a two-way configuration tentatively mid- to late April. So for the businesses over on Waiwai Loop, hang in there, Waiwai Loop is going to be turned back into a two-way.”

Kahauiki Station at Kamehameha Highway and Middle Street will serve the Kalihi, Honolulu Harbor and outlying residential areas. That station — deemed 91% complete — has one entrance, a side platform and will offer a pedestrian bridge to the adjacent Kalihi Transit Center platform.

“This station is built over the water,” Pabalan added.

Besides station and guideway work, HART is also expanding its ongoing utility undergrounding work now being done along Dillingham Boulevard in the Kalihi and Iwilei areas.

Last week HART and its contractor, Nan Inc., extended the work areas on Dillingham Boulevard from Alakawa to Kaaahi streets. The current one-lane con­figuration will extend continuously from Middle to Kaaahi streets, with left-turn restrictions from Kamehameha Highway, Dillingham Boulevard and driveways, HART says.

Likewise, all left turns along Kamehameha Highway and Dillingham Boulevard from Middle to Kaaahi streets will be restricted, except for the westbound left turn from Dillingham Boulevard onto Alakawa Street, which will remain open.

Intersecting streets along Dillingham Boulevard in the mauka and makai directions will continue to be closed as needed during nighttime hours, between 7 p.m. to 5 a.m.

Bus service will be maintained during this work, HART says.

In 2022, HART awarded Nan a $496 million contract to do utility relocation work as the rail line advances toward downtown Honolulu. In January, Nan Inc. had laid out work and traffic plans along Dillingham Boulevard and Kamehameha Highway, which include having only one lane for traffic in each direction, Ewa to town — 24 hours a day, seven days a week for the next three years.

The rail line’s first segment — from East Kapolei to Aloha Stadium — is expected to open for public service sometime this summer.