12/01/19
BRUCE ASATO / BASATO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Visitors stop to get photos of the Duke Kahanamoku statue on Waikiki Beach. Construction has been completed on a 95-foot sandbag groin designed to stabilize an erosion hot spot fronting the statue.
Construction has been completed on a 95-foot sandbag groin designed to stabilize an erosion hot spot at the Diamond Head end of Waikiki’s Kuhio Beach fronting the Duke Kahanamoku statue, officials said Friday.
The $700,000 project — a temporary measure until a more comprehensive master planning effort is completed for Waikiki Beach — included the transfer of some 1,000 cubic yards of beach sand from the Diamond Head swim basin of Kuhio Beach.
The effort, among other things, will help cover up an old foundation that is sometimes exposed on the beach. The foundation was part of the Waikiki Tavern, which was built in 1928 and demolished in 1962.
The Waikiki Beach Special Improvement District provided half of the project cost through a special tax assessment of Waikiki commercial properties, while the University of Hawaii Sea Grant Program provided technical support.
Rick Egged, president of the special improvement district, described the beach improvement project as the first in Waikiki in a generation.
“The Waikiki Beach Special Improvement District is proud to be a partner in this important beach management effort,” Egged said in a news release.
UH Sea Grant will continue to monitor the project weekly and provide monthly technical assessments evaluating the performance of the groin and beach restoration.
The project was completed following three weeks of construction. The project consultant and engineering designer was Sea Engineering Inc., and the contractor was JS International Inc.
The state Legislature this year allocated $13 million for Waikiki Beach. In addition to the Kuhio Beach project, the money will fund repairs to the Royal Hawaiian groin, between the Waikiki Sheraton and Royal Hawaiian hotels, in a project expected to be completed next year.
The funding also is underwriting the creation of a Waikiki Beach Master Plan, which is now being developed by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, UH Sea Grant and the Waikiki Beach Special Improvement District Association.
