Near Waipahu High School crews began closing off a portion of Farrington Highway to begin the task of testing where Honolulu's rail route might go.
"Going to be doing soil testing, in some places dilling down to 100ft, doing this to make sure that where we put our columns for this elevated rail system, they'll be about 150ft apart, are going in places that is suitable and we now what the soil is like," said Kirk Caldwell, CIty Managing Director.
They will be using infrared radar machines to locate utility lines such as sewer, water and electrical. With a display screen they can accurately see what is up directly below them.
"They are going to shoot radar equipment down into the soil to also tell them what's there. Should the subsurface be OK and the radar come back clean, we'll be then doing these moorings about every 150ft.," said Caldwell.
The machines will also test the soil's stability. Helping the City refine where to install concrete pillars along this center median to support the elevated guideway.
"In ANy project that's a $5.5 Billion all properly done so when they say go we can go ahead and start creating those jobs," said Caldwell.
The work will require nighttime lane closures between 7pm and 6am eastbound and 6pm thru 5am eastbound.
"We're actually closing a lane of traffic on Farrington Highway, we're doing it in the evening to not impact traffic to take care of the people who live here and not cause gridlock ourselves," said Caldwell.
The project will stretch down thru Ft. Weaver Road and take thru mid September to complete.
"Will go on for the next couple months it will not be completed immediately," said Caldwell.
The City says it expects to hand Governor Lingle the Final EIS on the rail project for her signature within a month or two.
