Kapi'olani Boulevard will be torn up over the next two years, but businesses hope the city's plan to temporarily halt repairs during the holiday seasons will save their Christmas sales.

Over the years, the businesses have seen their revenues hurt by emergency repairs and other roadwork. But the refurbishing of sewer and water lines that began this week calls for two years of torn-up road from Ward Avenue to Kapahulu Avenue. That worries even Kapi'olani Boulevard veterans like Hatsue Mizota.

"Well," Mizota said yesterday at Pro Am Golf, where she is the treasurer and a manager, "it's going to be a real hurt."

Like many other small businesses along and just off Kapi'olani, Pro Am relies on tourists — especially during the busy holiday season — said salesman Roger Grande.

"We depend a lot on the tourist trade from Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Canada," Grande said. "But being not from here, they're going to have a hard time turning around (when the road is blocked for construction) and sales will drop considerably."

Even the city's plan to halt construction from Nov. 22 through Jan. 14 this year and next won't make up for the loss of vehicle traffic and therefore foot traffic into the golf shop, Grande said.

"A month isn't going to be enough," he said.

City officials have held several meetings with business owners over the last 18 months at places like nearby McKinley High School, and the majority understand the need for a massive overhaul of Kapi'olani's sewer and water system, said city spokesman Bill Brennan. The cost of the project is $32 million.

"It may cause some inconveniences for their businesses, but they're supportive," Brennan said.

FIXING SEWAGE

City officials told business owners that the repairs are needed to prevent another sewer line rupture like the one that forced officials to pump 48 million gallons of raw sewage into the Ala Wai Canal in March rather than send it into homes, hotels and businesses.

Scenes of untreated sewage pouring into the canal made national headlines and gave tourists a decidedly different image of the Islands.

"Everybody knows that we want to avoid another Ala Wai situation," Brennan said, "so they know that the work needs to be done. We thank them in advance for their patience and understanding."

The work entails pouring new material into existing pipes and lines to create new "pipes within the old pipes," he said. "It's much more than rehabbing an old pipe, but it's not quite replacing an old one."

Tonight, workers will once again close the far-left 'ewa-bound and far-left diamondhead-bound lanes of Kapi'olani from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. then take a break Friday. But on Saturday, they will begin working round-the-clock.

"We're trying to minimize as best we can the amount of lane closures that will be needed," Brennan said.

BIT BY BIT

Individual businesses will have to endure workers tearing up and blocking off portions of Kapi'olani Boulevard for days or perhaps longer.

"It's not like the work is going to be in front of your place for two years," Brennan said. "It'll move."

But Meghan Dbouk-Connors, who owns Luna Jewels with her husband, is already figuring out alternate routes to get to their Kapi'olani Boulevard storefront each day, to avoid road construction and one-way streets.

"We've seen the road work before," Dbouk-Connors said. "At one point it wasn't that bad. But we're hoping it's not going to block traffic during this holiday season."

Antoine Spinelli, the owner of the Bottega Antoine salon on Kapi'olani Boulevard, is among the many business owners taking a calm approach to the impending congestion. For now.

"Everybody has to be patient and understand," Spinelli said, "because there's no way out. They've got to do the road work."

Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com.