Caldwell: Honolulu Will Spend $150 Million Paving Roads This Year
“Despite what you’ve heard today, we have actually paved or will be paving $150 million of roads between now and the end of this year,” said mayoral candidate Kirk Caldwell in a debate last week put on by the .
To determine whether Caldwell’s comment was accurate, we spoke with the (DDC), which is the primary agency responsible for road paving projects in Honolulu.
We know Caldwell was speaking off the cuff, so we need to give him some leeway. Let’s grant that he was talking about how much paving the city would do this calendar year, and not just between “now” and the end of the year. Let’s also grant that he might have been talking about the fiscal year, which runs from July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011.
No matter the slack we cut him, there’s no way to make the numbers add up the way he did.
According to Collins Lam, the deputy director for the department of design, the city is spending $154 million on paving over two years, from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2011. Not $150 million in one year. And certainly not between now and the end of the year.
Lam said the city encumbered (entered into a formal contract with the winning contractor) $77 million for road paving projects in fiscal year 2009. The city also encumbered $11 million for fiscal year 2010 and plans to encumber another $66 million by June 2011 (the end of fiscal year 2010).
Meaning that road paving projects that have or will be bid out will equal approximately $154 million in fiscal between fiscal years 2009 and 2010.
“The length of time from the time funding is encumbered to the time the project is completed is really dependent on the type of project and the contract time allocated to the project,” Lam told Civil Beat. “For very difficult road projects that involve multi lanes, extensive traffic control plans etc., the project contract may be up to 2 years. In other cases with smaller residential type of roadway projects, the project contract time may be as fast as 6 months.”
You might be curious where this paving will occur. Lam said the city plans to pave roads in the downtown area, in the Kaimuki/Kapahulu area, Makiki, Ewa Beach/Makakilo, Waikiki and other areas.
