LIHU‘E — State Department of Transportation Highways Division officials are working on plans to strengthen eight, age-weakened wooden bridges that wind through the North Shore and serve thousands of residents, Mayor Bryan J. Baptiste announced yesterday. If nothing is done,
LIHU‘E — State Department of Transportation Highways Division officials are working on plans to strengthen eight, age-weakened wooden bridges that wind through the North Shore and serve thousands of residents, Mayor Bryan J. Baptiste announced yesterday.
If nothing is done, one or more of the single-lane bridges could collapse under the weight of a Kaua‘i Fire Department truck responding to a fire anywhere between Hanalei town and Ke‘e Beach, Baptiste said in a meeting with the media in his office at the Lihu‘e Civic Center.
As a precaution, government officials reduced the weight limit of the second of the two wooden bridges over the Wainiha River from eight tons to six tons last week, Baptiste said.
All the bridges are still safe to use, but how long they can accommodate the weight of heavy trucks is not known, Baptiste added.
Earlier this year, DOT Highways Division officials notified county leaders that the weight limits of the bridges could not support continued crossing by emergency vehicles, principally fire trucks, which weigh 20 tons when loaded with water, Baptiste reported.
Should a fire erupt at a home located anywhere westward of Hanalei town, a standard fire truck will have to be dispatched to the fire from the Princeville fire station, Baptiste said.
“We have no choice but to use a 20-ton truck,” Baptiste said. “I don’t know what else to do (for now).”
The KFD’s Princeville station is currently fitted with a standard fire truck, which weighs about 20 tons when fully loaded with water, and a lighter, mini-pumper truck.
During non-fire situations, the lighter emergency vehicle could be dispatched to any home west of Hanalei town, Baptiste said.
Following the warning from DOT officials, Baptiste said his administration and county-agency officials have worked to find a solution.
One has been the county’s purchase of a lighter fire truck with a gross weight of about 24,000 pounds (12 tons), Baptiste said.
Equipped with a 400-gallon booster tank and a 15-gallon foam tank, the new truck can be used to fight house fires, he said.
“Until arrival of the apparatus, however, the policy in place instructs firefighters to still (drive) across the bridges if a fire is reported,” Baptiste said in a statement.
The truck has to be properly fitted, and could be on island in a year, said Baptiste, noting,
“It is not like it is waiting in the parking lot.”
DOT officials are also looking at two alternatives that could help remedy the situation.
One alternative calls for strengthening bridges with steel to allow them to carry heavier vehicle loads, Baptiste said.
“This alternative would be applicable for Waioli, Waipa, Wainiha I, Wainiha 2 and Wainiha 3 bridges,” Baptiste said. This option would cost an estimated $4.7 million to implement.
A second alternative would be to remove the existing bridge rails and place a “modular, prefabricated, steel bridge system over the existing wooden bridge structures,” Baptiste said.
This option would be applicable to Waikoko, Waioli, Waipa, Wainiha I, Wainiha 2 and Wainiha 3 bridges, he said.
Either option, if pursued, would provide for increased load capacities for the bridges, Baptiste said.
M&E Pacific, a consultant, meanwhile, has been commissioned to design new or reconditioned bridge structures for all three Wainiha bridges.
The Waikoko, Waioli, Waipa and Wainiha 1 bridges all have eight-ton limits.
Wainiha 2 and Wainiha 3 bridges have six-ton limits.
The plans apparently don’t affect Ha‘ena 1 and Ha‘ena 2 bridges, both of which have 10-ton limits.
Because the Hanalei Bridge has been reworked and strengthened in recent years, safety issues with that structure are not a concern, Baptiste said.
Before any of the options can be implemented for the other bridges, funds “will have to be scraped up,” Baptiste said.
“These alternatives would need to receive emergency status to gain funding in a timely manner,” Baptiste said.
“But even as these alternatives unfold, time keeps ticking.”
At best, the work on either alternative could take 12 months, “although it is likely these projects would be completed in 18 months to two years,” Baptiste said.
Although the bridges have tonnage restrictions, it was his belief that the bridges could accommodate vehicles that exceed the weight limits of the structures by up to 33 percent.
Some residents and community groups have fought to keep the wooden bridges as a way to retain the rural nature of the North Shore. Baptiste argued that safety outweighs other concerns.
Lester Chang, staff writer, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) or lchang@pulitzer.net.
