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HART awards $500M contract for Dillingham utility relocation

Aerial view of the Kapalama station area facing makai (oceanward).
Andy Stenz
/
Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation
Aerial view of the Kapalama station area facing makai (oceanward).

The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation announced Thursday it awarded a nearly $500 million contract to local general contracting firm Nan Inc.

The firm will be tasked with relocating electric, water, and sewer lines along Dillingham Boulevard for the Honolulu rail project.

Nan Inc. will have to relocate underground and overhead utilities from the corner of Kamehameha Highway and Laumaka Street — outside Oʻahu Community Correctional Center — to Kaʻaʻahi Street and Dillingham Boulevard, past the Costco.

HART CEO Lori Kahikina has likened the utility layout in the area to a "spaghetti noodle mess." But it is a crucial corridor to get the rail line into Downtown Honolulu.

Last year, HART proposed shifting the rail line from one side of Dillingham Boulevard to another — in order to avoid relocating high voltage power lines. The "mauka shift" was estimated to help the project save between $150 million and $166 million.

In a statement, Kahikina said Nan Inc.'s bid was almost 3% lower than the agency's independent cost estimate for the project.

HART expects physical construction to begin in the first quarter of next year, with an expected completion date of early 2026.

"Apologizing upfront, it's going to be an inconvenience, but we're going to try and make it as pain-free as we can by being open and honest and communicating," Kahikina previously told HPR's The Conversation.

You can find more detailed information about upcoming work, and traffic and noise impact at community meetings run by HART.

Casey Harlow was an HPR reporter and occasionally filled in as local host of Morning Edition and All Things Considered.
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