By Douglas Saefoa
(Photo Caption: Installtion of road drainage system for the 2 lane road along Henderson, Central Guadalcanal.)
By Douglas Saefoa
The second phase of the Kukum Highway Project funded by the Japanese Government is progressing steadily with actual road construction of the 6.6 km stretch of road from Henderson International Airport to the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources, underway starting at the eastern end of Honiara.
The current work in progress is evident further East of Honiara from the Lungga Bridge to Honiara International Airport.
This segment of the project will include a full upgrade of the existing 2-lane road which spans across a distance of 2.03 km including the road on the Lungga Bridge. This road upgrade will include improved pavement, drainage facilities/culverts, structure, road ancillaries (signs, marking, guard rails/kerbing), etc.
The 2-lane section was designed with consideration of the existing Lungga Bridge, roadside facilities, underground utilities and Right of Way (ROW) control points. Horizontal alignment of the 4-lane road shall be determined in consideration of a future extended 4-Lane Road.
According to the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the cross-sectional elements of the 2-lane section shall be planned so that the negative impact on the roads constructed in this Project will be minimized when in the future 4-lane widening project. This means that the current 2-lane section is considered as a provisional 2-lane. Widening direction of the future 4-lane will be set on the downstream side of the Lungga River.
Further into the project will be the Rehabilitation of the road from the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources to the Lungga Bridge (4 lanes, 4.3 km).
Work on the 4-lane road from Lungga bridge to the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine resources will be implemented in two scopes.
The first 2km from the Lungga bridge to the Sol2023 Games Village at King George section of the road will be fully upgraded. The construction design includes designated roadside facilities, under-ground utilities and ROW as control points in studying the alignments.
The finished surface level at Burns Creek will also be raised. JICA explained that this is necessary to avoid inundation during the run-off over a over a period of 10 years. The current design will also minimize median openings and provide exclusive U-turn Lane for improving traffic conditions. The new central island outer diameter is minimum 27 m, an increase from the previous which was 18 m 2-lance circulatory road.
The remaining 2.3 km of the 4-lane road from the Sol2023 Games village at King George to the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources along the Kukum Highway will the overlay section. Road works will include Asphalt overlay on top of the existing pavement and installation of drainage facilities for flooding mitigation.
According to JICA the existing drainage system along the project area shall be respected. In the design plans the project design team CTI Engineering International Co., Ltd noted that since capacity of the existing drainage facilities at the flow end points are insufficient, upgrading of the road-crossing facilities is planned considering the discharge from catchment area.
Pacific Tenders understands that water treated by drainage facilities in the project is only storm water. Sewage water is not considered in the project thus, needs to be considered in other projects.
An engineer from the Ministry of Infrastructure and Development’s Central Project Implementation Unit (MID-CPIU) told Pacific Tenders that even if drainage facilities are completed in the project, unless the drainages in the downstream side up to the sea are improved / developed by the responsible authorities, flooding risks would remain high.
As is the case for phase 1 of the project, the existing cross drainage structures shall be replaced with new box culverts.
With regards to ensuring ease of traffic congestion JICA noted that Lungga bus terminal is one of the traffic bottlenecks of the project road. Considering that this terminal will be required to be relocated when in the 4-lane widening project in the future, for the time being, improvement shall be made as a tentative measure by providing a lane divider between in/out bound carriageways under one-way operation.
This measure will contribute to mitigation of traffic congestion as this will prevent the road users from making U-turns at the bus terminal. On the other hand JICA explained that since there are 5m margin in front of the AJ City mall currently located in the opposite side to the bus terminal, a tentative bus terminal at this side will be provided.
Solomon Islands 
Papua New Guinea 
