Delivering reliable power solutions while honoring Kalaupapa’s unique landscape

Kalaupapa National Historic Park Power Upgrade Survey and Mapping

Located on the island of Molokaʻi, the Kalaupapa Peninsula is home to the remote island-community of Kalaupapa. It was “home” for nearly 8,000 patients, until 1969 when a cure for Hansen’s disease (leprosy) was developed and distributed. When the quarantine was lifted, some patients stayed as Kalaupapa truly was their home. On December 22, 1980, President Jimmy Carter signed Public Law 96-565 establishing Kalaupapa and Kalawao as a National Historical Park. Currently, six patients live there, along with a team of National Park Service (NPS) and Department of Health (DOH) personnel.

The NPS wanted to improve reliability, complete deferred maintenance, and improve operational maintenance for the area’s power grid. However, first they needed a reliable land survey conducted in this remote and challenging location, only accessible by a single-engine plane. They turned to our Hawai’i Geospatial team to help.

We conducted a linear topographic survey along three designated roadways in the park. The upgrade project would include new power poles and electrical lines throughout the settlement as well as connecting the existing water treatment facility to the electrical distribution system. Due to mandatory historical site preservation regulations, one area of roadway would require a new underground distribution line. This brought an additional challenge to the overall project by requiring that engineers leave the site as-is and build the new distribution line entirely underground along the service road that connected the original Kalawao settlement to Kalaupapa.

Our team used a combination of a global positioning  system (GPS) to establish ties to the historical Old Hawaiian State Plane system and terrestrial survey equipment to accurately locate and document culturally sensitive relics and native plant species along the alignment. We also used a “field-to-finish” workflow to support swift data collection and processing of roadway features.

The project stands as a testament to implementing vital infrastructure upgrades while respecting an area’s cultural and environmental heritage, providing essential services and protecting Kalaupapa’s story for generations to come.