Night construction work on Rice Street will begin this Sunday on a temporary basis.
Weather permitting, it should take Goodfellow Brothers five working nights to lay sub base and base course (all the pavement layers below the top asphalt cover) for nearly the entire length of the street reconstruction project on the side nearest Motel Lani, according to Myles Mizokami, project manager for Goodfellow.
The state Department of Health approved two noise variances allowing the contractor to conduct night work, with the approved hours from the area near Dani’s Restaurant to Kress Street being 6 p.m. to 2:30 a.m.
That work will commence Sunday at 6 and should take two nights to move away from homes along Rice into the area nearer Kress, Mizokami said.
From Kress to the end of the project at Kuhio Highway, work will be from 9 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. Tuesday through Thursday, ending Friday morning if weather is favorable and crews make steady progress.
“There will be at least five nights of work,” Mizokami said.
The second noise variance allows work from 9 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. from Kress to Kuhio. A similar, second round of night work will take place along the same route during the project’s second phase, when the lanes closest to the Lihu’e Fire Station will get the sub base and base course, Mizokami said.
He said the noise from the after-dark work “won’t be anything louder than what we’ve been doing so far. It’s not going to be silent. It’s not going to be whisper quiet.”
There will be no jackhammering or similar loud, persistent banging, he said.
“It may not be the best time to be working for everybody, but we’re just trying to do the work as quick as we can and get out of everybody’s way,” said Mizokami.
Residents of Kalapaki Villas and other residential areas on Rice complained earlier this year about the prospect of night work disrupting their sleep.
During the night work, traffic on Rice will be reduced to one lane at times. Motorists should avoid the construction zone if they can, Mizokami said.
He said work on the overall Kaua’i County project – to widen Rice Street to four lanes from Kapule Highway to its intersection with Kuhio and Kaumuali’i highways at the county building – is progressing on schedule.
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
