Cane haul road eyed to ease highway congestion | News, Sports, Jobs

An old Pioneer Mill cane haul road is being planned as a new roadway to relieve congestion on Honoapiilani Highway, where southbound traffic is expected to increase by 50 percent over the next five years, according to construction plans.

An old Pioneer Mill cane haul road is being planned as a new roadway to relieve congestion on Honoapiilani Highway, where southbound traffic is expected to increase by 50 percent over the next five years, according to construction plans.

The Kuhua Street extension and improvement project is located on county land and property owned by the Pioneer Mill Co. Ltd. – a subsidiary of Kaanapali Land Management Corp. The proposed 2-mile road would run parallel and mauka of the highway from Keawe Street to Front Street.

Department of Public Works Director David Goode said that the project’s final environmental assessment is in the process of being completed, and once done, the department will begin to look for funding. He did not know when the project would start because of pending approvals and lack of funding.

The project is estimated to cost about $36 million (in 2013 dollars) to construct, according to plans. It’s expected to take about two years to prepare and get approval for construction plans, a process also dependent on funding.

Construction will take about two years – one year for each of the proposed phases. The first phase would be north of Lahainaluna Road and the second phase would be south of it.

The county may receive funding from developers of adjacent properties, and it hopes to acquire federal funding, which could take a couple years “at best,” Goode said. Without federal aid, motorists on Honoapiilani Highway will go without relief from traffic congestion for even longer.

“It’s pretty darn busy,” Goode said of the West Maui roadway that ranks among the busiest in the county, along with Kaahumanu Avenue. “It’s a major artery and lifeline to the west side, so having those alternate routes is important in giving drivers options. It just facilitates movement of people and cars and bikes.”

Heading south on the proposed road, drivers would cross the Kahoma Stream flood control channel and continue along the existing Kuhua Street until it intersects with Lahainaluna Road. The road would continue and run parallel to the existing Mill Street cane haul road, veering around the Lahaina Recreation Center between ballfields and Na Hale O Wainee housing project until it connects with the intersection of Front Stree and the highway near Puamana.

Project manager Chad Fukunaga said that the concept of using the old cane haul road to relieve local traffic has been talked about since the mid-2000s and was once called the Mill Street bypass. He said the discussion started when the Lahaina bypass, which had been in the works for decades, was stalled and the “economy was really pumping and traffic was getting really bad in Lahaina.”

“We already have these cane haul roads, so why can’t we simply use them as a bypass?” Fukunaga recalled Thursday.

Fukunaga said engineers were hired to evaluate the plan and explained that “if there is going to be a bypass, it made no sense to have it right next to a highway.” Around that time, the Lahaina bypass picked up steam and secured funding, and the Kuhua Street project was put on the backburner, he said.

Traffic on the highway has not slowed despite the addition of the bypass, and the highway serves as essentially the only road through Lahaina town. The only other roads that extend the length of the town are Front and Wainee streets – both of which are makai of the highway.

Fukunaga said public informational meetings have been held on the project, and Kuhua Street residents are concerned about speeding, traffic noise and losing roadside parking. He said that the street currently goes up to residents’ property lines and many do not have driveways.

“If the corridor is widened, it would afford them a driveway area so they could park their cars and not have to worry about street-side parking,” he said.

Construction plans call for widening the street from 25 feet to 79 feet, making it a two-lane roadway that would extend through the length of the project. Plans also include a multiuse trail greenway, landscaped buffer, curbs, gutters, sidewalks and provisions for residential parking. Most of the remaining development is unused sugar cane lands.

“The need for an alternate bypass is not as essential now as it was at that time, but it’s still a good idea to plan for the future and future development of the area,” Fukunaga said. “It’s a good idea to have that north and south connected roadway system, similar to Kihei.”

Goode added that driving up to the bypass does not make sense for everyone commuting through Lahaina, and it would be easier if there were another roadway. He said the proposed road also would help during road closures and accidents on the highway.

Sophie Foulkes-Taylor, manager of the women’s clothing store Mahina at Lahaina Gateway Center, said traffic was “bumper to bumper” recently after an accident on the highway.

“It took forever,” Foulkes-Taylor said. “Front Street was totally clogged, and Lahainaluna Road was packed.”

Foulkes-Taylor said the proposed road that leads directly to the center would “definitely help” potential customers reach the shopping center located across from the Lahaina Cannery Mall. She said there is “always a backlog of traffic” from the shopping areas to Lahainaluna Road.

“I definitely think it couldn’t hurt,” she said of the proposed road. “It wouldn’t be that great for people that live behind the mill, but it would definitely benefit everybody else. It could really be beneficial for all of Lahaina, just to give people that extra road that gets all clogged up at Lahainaluna (Road).”

Dan Blessing, owner of Island Cream Co. at the center, said he couldn’t say if the road would help with traffic, without looking at its plans, but he focused his concerns on traffic lights in Lahaina. He said that whenever he drives to work from Kaanapali around 7 a.m., it’s a “nightmare.”

“The stoplights out here are a disaster,” he said. “They don’t work, and it needs to be changed, and we’re talking about a comprehensive change.”

Blessing said that ever since the bypass was built, residents north of the mall turn left on Keawe Street, and that has caused backups about 20 to 30 cars deep. He said the line of cars goes beyond Barnes & Noble and well past the designated turn lane.

The traffic signal does not have a “smart sensor” and only allows five or six cars through, Blessing said. Many drivers have resorted to driving through the cannery mall to reach the other traffic light that goes straight onto Keawe Street.

“I’m sure the cannery mall doesn’t appreciate it, but I’m not sure if they even know what they’re doing,” he said.

Goode said the Keawe Street intersection is state controlled and would need to be addressed by the state Highways Division. However, he said traffic should decrease as more entry points are built.

Blessing added that he also would like to see the speed limit increased on the bypass, which in some areas are 20 mph. He said he hopes the proposed road helps with congestion and brings customers to the center.

“We’d love to have traffic flow through the center, but the county’s sure going to have to do something about the stoplights,” he said.

* Chris Sugidono can be reached at csugidono@mauinews.com.

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