Goodfellow Bros. Inc. is the general contractor for the Mokulele Highway expansion, which serves as one of two connectors in Maui.

Successful partnering has been key to a smooth-sailing highway widening project in Maui, Hawaii. Goodfellow Bros. Inc. is the general contractor for the Mokulele Highway expansion, which serves as one of the two connectors in Maui, providing access to locals and as many as two million island visitors annually.

Chad Goodfellow, project manager, notes its relationships with the Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT) and its construction manager, SSFM International Inc., as well as California-based F&H Construction and Maui Paving LLC make the project unique. “This is one of those jobs where everyone is working together for a common goal to provide a quality project with the least inconvenience to the public,” he states. “This job has been smooth because of the great help from HDOT and SSFM. Without them this project wouldn’t be going as well as it is.”

In addition, Goodfellow Bros. has more than 20 years of working relationships with its key subcontractors on the projects.

The scope of the Mokulele Highway consists of two phases, and has a target completion date of spring 2008. The project is broken down by:

• Phase 1C – $25 million, 1.8-mile highway expansion from two to four lanes, including a box culvert and relocating two 36-inch water lines. It will also include electrical, paving and landscape work. This phase was started in January.
• Phase 1A  – $21 million, one-mile expansion from two to four lanes, including a major intersection improvement, bridge and nine-channel box culvert. Goodfellow says this intersection will be one of the heaviest traveled intersections on the island when it is completed. Phase 1A was started in March.

Adapting to Challenges
Working in Maui creates minor challenges, Goodfellow notes. Pre-planning is a top priority to ensure all materials needed are available, he adds. “Materials are quite limited [when working on an isolated island], and there is no room for error when it comes to ordering and installing materials,” he continues. “It can literally take months to correct material issues.” He adds that supply orders should always be well thought-out. “You don’t want to sit around waiting for a work item, because it can delay construction for quite some time and that is very costly,” Goodfellow says.

Because materials take about a month to be shipped in, the company spent six months planning the Mokulele Highway project prior to its construction. “To be cost-effective, materials come in by barge – plus we factor in how long the suppliers can make the specific materials – so once construction starts, we can move quickly,” Goodfellow states.

Another challenge is the limited labor pool. Due to the difficulty of traveling between the islands, the company has to make sure it has enough skilled labor for its workload. Fortunately, Goodfellow says, the company has been working in Maui since the 1970s and has established many relationships over the years.

“We are lucky to retain skilled, dedicated and loyal workers both in the field and with the administrative area,” he stresses.

‘A Good Neighbor’
The Mokulele Highway is located in an agricultural corridor of sugar-cane fields, Goodfellow says. “It is located in the basin of the island known as the Valley Isle, which is in between two large mountains channeling the wind through the project,” Goodfellow notes.

This past year has been extremely windy, he continues, noting that daily wind gusts can reach 60 miles per hour. “We have to steadily battle against the dust,” Goodfellow continues. “Our company has a focus to work as environmentally friendly as possible,” he says. “In the spirit of being a good neighbor to users and residents, we used recycled paper mulch, and at times have provided three times the amount of dust control than required by the contract.

“It’s an ongoing battle every single day,” Goodfellow adds. “Some days we win, some days we have to stop our workday early, but that’s how it is when you try to fight Mother Nature.”

Doing the Right Thing
Aside from its quality work, the company’s focus on community service sets it apart from other companies of it size. Community involvement is encouraged throughout the company’s six other offices – Oregon, Washington, Kauai, Oahu, Big Island and Molokai – and Maui is no exception.

“Living on such a small and isolated island, we have a responsibility to help others in time of need,” Goodfellow says. “That means, when there is a fire that is threatening a structure, we go and take our water trucks and help fight the fire. We don’t get paid for it, [and] our contract time doesn’t stop, [but] we do it because it is the right thing to do.”

Growing its Expertise
The company had not done a lot of public works projects in Maui in recent years, Goodfellow notes. The company is performing roughly 40 percent public work, compared to five years ago, when infrastructure projects constituted only 20 percent of its portfolio. “We’re changing our business model to handle that workload,” he states. “Since the state and the government are [allocating] funds for infrastructure, we anticipate that in the next couple of years, [we’re going to do] a much higher percent of public work.”

For now, however, Goodfellow Bros. is focusing more on forming strategic partnerships. “This allows us to be more competitive,” Goodfellow says. “We’re able to focus more on what we do well, which is dirt work vs. our competition who may to do it all in-house. Starting things out in a trusting environment gives users a higher-quality project that is low in budget and completed ahead of schedule.”

Dan Blackburn, corporate manager for F&H Construction, praises Goodfellow Bros. for its hard work. “We’ve got a lot of good things going,” he states, “and [have] continued plans to grow together.”