Rusted railings worry bridge users

KILAUEA – A steady stream of vehicles worked its way across the small

bridge on Kolo Road when the bell indicating the end of school

sounded.

Re-bar white grating framed by pipe and channel iron sometimes

gyrated from the traffic as, from the Kilauea School side of the

bridge, a student glided down the gentle curve leading to the bridge.

Another pedestrian threaded his way across the bridge spanning

Kilauea Stream from the Waldorf School side of Kolo Road.

Bill Troutman, a member of Kilauea Neighborhood Association, said the

bridge poses a hazard to these pedestrians and others due to the

disrepair of the grating. The gravity of the hazard was brought out

at a recent meeting by a mother who related that, while walking her

children to school, she was shocked when her younger child

demonstrated how easily they could slip between the grating that, in

some places, has rusted through its anchoring weld on the frame.

Built when Kolo Road was the main one through Kilauea town, the

bridge’s side rails were destroyed by Hurricane Iniki, Troutman said.

The grating is a result of post-hurricane repairs, he said. Clearly

temporary, the grating is positioned against the original concrete

siderails, and the destruction of the original railings shows through

the re-bar grates that are about six inches apart.

Troutman claimed six inches is too far apart for the bars. Even

without them being rusted through, smaller children of kindergarten

age are able to slip through the bars with ease, he said.

Troutman said the neighborhood association has written to Kaua’i

County, but to date nothing has been done. He said County Councilman

Gary Hooser has been to the bridge. Meanwhile, schoolchildren still

cross the bridge despite the deteriorated re-bars.

Troutman said the association has been told that Federal Emergency

Management Agency money is available to make more permanent repairs,

but Kilauea group has heard nothing about when the hazards would be

addressed.

In response to an inquiry this week by The Garden Island, county

spokeswoman Beth Tokioka said the Public Works Department is “working

on a response” the bridge situation.

“Our apologies if it has taken an inordinate amount of time to

respond,” she said.

According to Tokioka, Russell Sugano, head of the county’s roads

division, said the federal government “mandates that our bridges be

inspected every two years.” The last inspection of the Kolo Road

bridge was conducted last December 2000. “At that time it was found

to be structurally sound and the underlying supports are in good

condition,” she related.

Public Works officials have, however, ordered replacement guardrails,

which should be installed in about a month at a cost of about $1,000,

Tokioka advised.

County bridges that are being repaired this fiscal year (Omao,

Puuopae and Olohena) were found to be substandard in their previous

inspections, Tokioka said.

Rebuilding the Kolo Road bridge would cost an estimated $4 million,

which is more than the other three bridge projects combined, she said.

As apparent evidence of the bridge users’ frustration over the state

of the Kolo bridge, a piece of Christmas ribbon fluttered quietly in

the breeze earlier this week from its location about midway on the

mauka side of the span, its length wrapped around the steel faceplate

and the pipe frame.

Keala Davis, a fifth-grader at Kilauea School, stopped his scooter

once safely across the bridge.

“I use the bridge every day to get home from school,” he said.

Staff photographer Dennis Fujimoto can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253).