Church construction to close Alii Drive lane

The northbound lane of Alii Drive in Kailua Village will be closed starting Monday while crews connect the under-construction St. Michael the Archangel Church to a county water main.

Pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists are advised to be prepared for the closure and, if possible, seek alternate routes because delays are anticipated, said Bill Prince, who is managing the construction of the new facility for Konas oldest Roman Catholic Church. The closure of the northbound lane will occur between 7:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, he said.

Prince said the closure is necessary to allow for excavation work by Heartwood Pacific LLC to connect the new facility to a Hawaii County Department of Water Supply water main that crosses beneath Alii Drive fronting Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. and Waterfront Row.

Department of Water Supply spokeswoman Kanani Aton confirmed the connection was to occur this week. She said DWS crews will be working at the same times as the contractor to upgrade water services to provide for fire protection and meter size. The church will then tap into the water main, she said.

The southbound lane will remain open during the work, Prince said, adding that traffic control personnel have been contracted to contraflow traffic around the work. Crews plan to place steel plates over the work at night to allow traffic to flow in both directions.

People will be managed in the area, he said. Pedestrians are asked to use the makai sidewalk for safety, he added.

As the crews work to connect to the water main fronting the church, construction continues on the actual facility. Construction Committee head Dick Leander said that steel work has begun; vertical construction is planned to begin Jan. 20.

If all goes as planned, construction will be completed by November, he said. The first services are slated in the new facility for Christmas.

Ground breaking for the new St. Michael the Archangel Church was held Sept. 28, 2012. The former church building was deemed unsafe by structural engineers in 2007 following Oct. 15, 2006, earthquakes. Since then, services have been held in a tent on the Alii Drive property, and, more recently, at a facility off Honokohau Street in Kailua-Kona.

Completed in 1850, St. Michael the Archangel is the oldest Roman Catholic church in Kona, according to the Kona Historical Society. Gov. John Adams Kuakini gave the land beneath the facility to the Catholic Church in 1841. The original building was completed under the Rev. Marechal.

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Church construction to close Alii Drive lane