GP Roadway Solutions stays flexible for APEC

MAPUNAPUNA (HawaiiNewsNow) - The barricades and barriers that surround the Hawaii Convention Center and Ko Olina belong to GP Roadway Solutions. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit is keeping them busy.

"Okay! Twenty crowd control barriers. Thank you," dispatcher Kim Sanchez said, confirming another order.

As fast as they can fill them, workers at the company's Mapunapuna warehouse respond to APEC orders.

"We get calls all day to button this up, or add this here, or take away this, adjust this. It's ongoing day and night," operations supervisor Kelly Lenfest said.

The State Department gave Roadway Solutions a rough sketch and told it to fill in the blanks for traffic and crowd control.

"What they were asking for was for parking restrictions around the Convention Center," department manager Kenneth Young said.

That was just one piece of the puzzle.

The company has already trucked out thousands of feet of barriers and fencing, and hundreds of orange cones. And there's more to do.

"All these crowd control barriers you see behind me are going to be delivered today and tomorrow out to the Ko Olina," Lenfest said, gesturing to 800 large steel fences that will have be trucked to the site.

The warehouse holds enough supplies for most big events the company works, like the Honolulu Marathon and Waikiki parades. But APEC's demand meant shipping in extra supplies from Kauai, Maui and the Big Island, plus adding more workers for the heavy lifting.

"With the crowd control barriers, we're putting out 1,400," Young said. "You can put 50 on a truck. So that's a lot of movement."

Roadway Solutions estimates it's handling 90 percent of traffic and crowd control setup for APEC, and failure is not an option.

"Whatever they need. We're right there," Lenfest said.

By Jim Mendoza

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/16003557/barrier-company-stays-flexible-fo...

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