City reviewing bid to remove Haiku Stairs on Oahu
Honolulu is evaluating a local contractor’s bid to use helicopters to hoist and remove all of the once-legally accessible steel steps of the Haiku Stairs from a sheer ridgeline high above Kaneohe and the H-3 freeway.
On June 1, after a nearly monthlong request for bidders, the city opened just one bid for the demolition project — to be overseen by the city’s Department of Design and Construction — initially estimated at $1 million. The Nakoa Cos. Inc. has offered to do the work for $2.26 million.
Since 2021, Mayor Rick Blangiardi and the Honolulu City Council have favored a plan to permanently remove the structure while groups like Friends of the Haiku Stairs — fearing destruction of the World War II-era landmark in Windward Oahu — favor paid, managed access to a site that over the years has switched ownership between the Coast Guard, the Board of Water Supply and ultimately the city itself.
