KIHEI, Hawai‘i – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and its contractors will begin heavy construction at the Kilohana temporary housing site later this week.
Kilohana is a 34-acre site is located off of a cane haul road near Wahikuli Road in Lahaina. USACE is grading the land, installing utilities and preparing the site for 169 temporary housing units. The project is funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the state of Hawai‘i.
The site is on hard rock, so blasting will need to be done to install utilities and grade the site. Blasting will begin May 16 or later and will generally take place once a day in the afternoons. Blasting will be done by Blasting Technology, Inc., of Kihei, Hawaii.
The USACE lead contractor on the project, Aktarius, LLC dba Dawson AKT, is sending a letter to any residents close enough to hear/feel the blasting and is going door-to-door for the closest residents.
USACE also anticipates closing Fleming Road for three to four months, while the contractor works on the sewer extension. At this time, exact dates are not available for when this will happen.
Preliminary surveys were conducted by USACE archeologists, and nothing of cultural or historical significance was found at Kilohana. Contractors will have an archeologist onsite for all ground-disturbing activities in the event something is uncovered.
Work will take approximately six months to complete due to the size of the project and the site being on top of hard rock. Once construction is complete, the Corps of Engineers will turn the site over to FEMA for the installation of the housing units. As sites become available, FEMA may initiate installation of housing units before the entire site is complete.
The contractors will do their best to minimize disruptions throughout construction, although an increase in construction traffic is anticipated.
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Release no. 24-018