Students Enjoy Learning about the History of Transportation in Mākaha

On May 8, Historic Hawai‘i Foundation, the Hawai‘i State Department of Transportation (HDOT) & the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) teamed up to share the story of the Mākaha Bridges with more than seventy Career and Technical Education students studying Marine Sciences, Agriculture and Hawaiian Studies at Wai‘anae High School.

The historical bridges are being replaced. As mitigation for their loss, HDOT and FHWA commissioned the development of a pamphlet documenting the history of transportation in Mākaha.  (Click here to view the pamphlet.)  The presentation shared cultural history of the region, historical significance of the bridges, engineering challenges, and steps in the preservation process that led to the decision to remove the bridges and create the pamphlet as mitigation. (Click here to view the presentation.)

Copies of the pamphlet were distributed to the students.  HHF, HDOT and FHWA staff presented with Boday Borres, P.E., a Senior Transportation Engineer from the Federal Highway Administration’s Hawaii Division, providing an impromptu engineering lesson.

A lively Q&A followed the presentation with students in the Marine Science program interested to learn what protective measures were being implemented to safeguard the ocean and reef from sedimentation runoff during the removal and new construction process and Hawaiian Studies students interested in the cultural impacts of the project.

Students were also exposed to a range of possible career opportunities available in preservation-related fields. HHF extends much mahalo to Wai‘anae High School’s CTE faculty, Dana Hoppe and Shannon Bucasa, who welcomed us and made our presentation possible.