HONOLUA – The state Department of Transportation plans to “rehabilitate” the 94-year-old Honolua Bridge, creating a shoulder for pedestrian and bike travel and increasing its load capacity to modern standards.

The Final Environmental Assessment (Finding of No Significant Impact) for the Honoapiilani Highway, Rehabilitation of Honolua Bridge Project was published in the Sept. 8 issue of The Environmental Notice published by the Hawaii Office of Environmental Quality Control. Go to health.hawaii.gov/oeqc/ to review the document.

Built in 1924 and potentially eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, Honolua Bridge has no accommodations for pedestrians or bicyclists.

The state DOT plans to improve the 18-foot wide, 24-foot long, one-lane bridge along Honoapiilani Highway between milepost 32.40 and 32.51 with a superstructure that has a load capacity consistent with current design standards and has parapets compliant with the Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH) 2016.

“The existing Honolua Bridge does not meet current American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO) standards specifications for highway bridges, in terms of geometrics, weight load capacity and hydraulic capacity. Based on the State Bridge Preservation Program Assessment, the existing bridge has a National Bridge Inventory (NBI) sufficiency rating of 42.2 based on a 100-point scale. Any score below 50 warrants replacement, or rehabilitation, to increase the assessment score above 50 points according to the preservation guidelines,” the Final EA states.

Rehabilitation of the existing bridge will consist of the structure remaining 18 feet wide and improved with one 12-foot wide travel lane and one 5-foot wide shoulder for pedestrian and bike travel on the makai (ocean) side, a one-foot wide shoulder on the mauka (mountain) side and bridge rails on the makai bridge parapet.

Current guardrail and end treatment connections will be upgraded and signage/striping compliant with state DOT standards added.

A temporary traffic detour road and bridge will be constructed on the makai side of the highway right-of-way to allow the road to remain open during construction.