In an effort to make a stretch of Kalaniana'ole Highway safer, the state is planning to spend as much as $10 million to carve away a portion of the hillside, dig out a catchment basin, install underground utilities and shore up the roadway along Makapu'u between the lookout and Sea Life Park.

The state initiated a rockfall project in 2002 after volleyball-sized rocks fell from the cliff above onto the roadway, blocking the road. One rock shattered a motorist's windshield. Through this second part of the project, the state proposes hauling away all loose rock from the cliff between Sea Life Park and the upper Makapu'u lookout down to the hard rock, or pali, and then terracing the area below. A rock catchment also would be built.

Scott Ishikawa, state Department of Transportation spokesman, said the measures are needed because the area is often subjected to rockfalls and debris after heavy rainstorms.

In 2003, the state spent about $7 million installing a wire mesh screen over 19,400 square yards of hillside at Makapu'u point.

As part of the proposal, the state also intends to address concerns that the makai side of the roadway is being undermined and sinking because of heavy Waimanalo-bound vehicles rounding the curve. Overhead utility lines would be placed underground.

To shore up the roadway on Kalaniana'ole Highway, the proposal calls for the installation of 30-foot anchors bored under the roadway at an angle and spaced 10 feet apart. The existing rock wall that holds up the roadway on the makai side would be cut down to the top of the road, adding another 2 feet to the narrow road's width. Another wall would be built before crews repave the road.

Some of the work would be done at night, and during the day contraflow measures would be used to keep traffic flowing between East Honolulu and Waimanalo, Ishikawa said.

Work is expected to begin next year, but the state hopes to award a contract by the end of this year, Ishikawa said. City and state land-use permits will be needed before the work can begin. The state will pay for 20 percent of the 15-month project. Federal funding will cover the remaining 80 percent.

Wilson Ho, Waimanalo Neighborhood Board chairman, said, "I had recommended similar improvements way back in 1996." He added, "It's kind of a scary project because the roadway and wall is 75 years old, and if you fix something this old, it might not go back to the way it was.

"But if it makes the road safer, then it will be worth all the inconvenience."

Earl Matsukawa, of Wilson Okamoto Corp., a consultant hired by the state to work on this project, said by cutting back the loose rock, the risk of rockfalls would be reduced.

When completed, the terraced area is expected look similar to that in Castle Junction in Kailua.

Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com.