Building Industry Magazine - December 2011 - (Page 10)

NewsBeat Intermodal Center Dedicated The City & County of Honolulu held a dedication ceremony on Oct. 25 for its new Middle Street Intermodal Center, located at the intersection of Middle Street and Kamehameha Highway and adjacent to the existing Kalihi-Palama transit facility. The complex is comprised of the Handi-Van administration and maintenance building, Handi-Van parking lot, Middle Street transit center, and a park-and-ride lot. The Handi-Van facilities actually were dedicated in previous years. The Oct. 25 event acknowledged the completion of the Middle Street transit center and its park and ride lot. The new portion includes bays for staging buses and an expanded transit center to replace the existing bus service center. The passenger platform has a customer service center, which will issue bus passes and badges, a lost-and-found facility, two restroom buildings, a utility building, and security office. The passenger platform and customer service center are under a covered canopy with a “living wall” landscape in the center of the platform. Provisions have been made to allow connection to the future rail station at Kamehameha Highway. “This is significant because the transit center demonstrates our commitment to developing our multimodal transportation system,” says Mayor Peter Carlisle. “This is all part of our efforts to improve TheBus service and encourage ridership, while also proceeding with a rail line that will connect Oahu’s urban core.” The $11.2 million Middle Street transit center was built by T. Iida Contracting. The prime consultant for the entire Middle Street Intermodal Center is Urban Works, Inc., with subconsultants: SSFM International, Inc., Nakamura Oyama & Associates, Inc., Notkin Hawaii, Inc., and Masa Fujioka & Associates, Inc. Above, the passenger platform of the Middle Street transit center (shown here) has a customer service center, a lost-and-found facility, a utility building and security office. Left, Mayor Peter Carlisle (right) and Breene Harimoto, Honolulu City Council member for District 8 (left), untie the maile lei while Kahu Curt Kekuna of Kawaiahao Church conducts the blessing. New Big Island Zipline Completed Hawaii Forest & Trail and Kohala Zipline opened its new Kohala Canopy Adventure in October. Perched amongst the trees of Halawa Gulch on the Big Island, it features suspension bridges, soaring tree platforms and thrilling ziplines. A building construction project two years in the making, work first entailed a survey of Halawa gulch and inventory of trees, followed by course design. Already felled timber crop trees were used to build the platforms. The canopy course features five elevated suspension bridges, 14 tree platforms, nine ziplines ranging from about 110 feet to the memorable 1,100-foot course finale, and two rappels. The adventure allows guests to absorb the tranquility of a meandering stream, ancient taro fields and the forest floor below. Each line is constructed of aircraft-grade galvanized steel and coated with a proprietary polymer blend that reduces line noise by more than 50 percent, allowing guests to hear the distinctive sounds of the forest rather than line noise. “The serenity and natural beauty of this site really speaks for itself,” states Victor Gallo, site construction manager for Kohala Zipline. “Leaving as much of the canopy intact to create a nature-based tour was our biggest challenge and we’re really excited about the outcome of this project. It is one of the highest quality sites I’ve had an opportunity to work on. We wanted to honor the site by having as little disturbance as possible among these 100-year-old trees.” 10 | BUILDING INDUSTRY | DECEMBER 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Building Industry Magazine - December 2011

Contents
Datebook
Career Days Hits Record
New Retail Coming to Ewa Plain
And the Winner is…
City Dedicates Wahiawa Transit Center
New Big Island Zipline Completed
Best Practices
Contracts Awarded
NAWIC Welcomes New Board
Top Stories, Issues and Projects
Concept to Completion: Hickam Historic Homes
Guam
Spotlight on Success: Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa
GCA Early Bird Saves $100
Low Bids
News Makers
New Products

Building Industry Magazine - December 2011