HILO, Hawai'i — Projects to upgrade bathrooms, install septic tanks and make a cabin accessible to the disabled are among $1.7 million worth of construction projects under way or about to begin at Hapuna Beach State Recreation Area in Kohala.

The projects also include new picnic tables and new pathways at the Hapuna pavilions, according to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.

DLNR Chairman Peter Young said in a statement that the park will remain open, but said several projects are under way at the same time to "be efficient and shorten the period of inconvenience to park users."

Portable toilets will be provided when any comfort station is closed for renovations, he said.

Isemoto Contracting Co. is renovating the park's three comfort stations, its pavilions, a cabin for campers and the other facilities. The $670,000 project is scheduled for completion this summer.

Site Engineering Inc. has nearly completed projects at the park that include resurfacing and striping of the upper parking lot, repaving and drainage improvements to the South Beach road and construction of accessible parking stalls.

Work begins in February on septic systems for the comfort stations to replace the park cesspool, a requirement of the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The work by Big Island Excavating LLC will take about four months.