Dave Gedeon, the CFLHD Saddle Road project manager, e-mailed me last weekend announcing his retirement. Mr. Gedeon’s e-mail caught me off guard. I didn’t expect he’d retire before the entire project was completed. Nevertheless, the CFLHD has replaced him and Bill Hakala, the CFLHD Saddle Road construction manager, with three new individuals. I hope they continue Mr. Gedeon’s sterling work as this project nears its completion.

Nan is preparing to pour two additional segments of cement (one up by the Henry Street intersection and another by the fire station). These new segments will connect the new concrete pavement to the existing Palani Road.

Hawaii County is soliciting bids to improve part of Kaiminani Drive. The county originally planned to resurface all of Kaiminani Drive, but they reduced the project’s scope later on. This was likely done because the mauka portion needed additional construction work.

I was irritated after reading this article over the weekend. I wish individuals, like Tim Terzi, would ask why these projects were delayed instead of grumbling to the newspaper about it.

“Shoulder work along Highway 180 heading to Holualoa where he said crews have been working in the same area for nearly two years;

Road improvements at the Kiholo Bay Scenic lookout on Queen Kaahumanu Highway, which he said have been going on for more than 18 months; and

The storage of rock at Ke Kahakai State Park rather than using it to smooth out the access road to Mahaiula beach.”

The Highway 180 roadway shoulder strengthening project has encountered several delays. There has been five project change orders thus far. However, Isemoto Contracting’s biggest challenge has been unforeseen subsurface/geotechnical issues.

Isemto was slated to finish this project by February 2012, but they’re probably going to seek a time extension to finish their work.

The pile of fill material by Kekaha Kai State Park will be used when construction begins on intersection improvements to this beach.

The Kiholo Bay lookout improvements project encountered one major delay, if I recall correctly. Sandwich Isles Communications had to relocate their fiber-optic cable, which resulted in a eight week delay. This project is slated to be completed by March 16, 2012.

Lastly, The Hawaii PUC approved PGV/HELCO’s new 8mW PPA on December 30th, 2011. Ormat expects to activate the new brine recovery facility, which will produce this additional electricity, sometime in January 2012.