Maui can't have it both ways
By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Staff Writer
Driving on Maui can drive you crazy.
It's bad just about everywhere now.
Honoapi'ilani Highway around the Pali to Lahaina comes to a standstill with every brush fire or accident investigation — and there are lots of those, especially during whale season, when every other car is swerving off the road without warning at the first glimpse of a spout.
The Pi'ilani Highway, which was built through kiawe-strewn pastures in the '80s, is now lined with strip malls and just-alike housing developments. Going from one end of Pi'ilani to the other during rush hour is agonizing. You sit in your car feeling your life drain away as you inch along unbearably.
Upcountry, just try to make a left turn onto the main thoroughfare. It can't be done.
Even in areas that used to be remote, like Kahakuloa and Hana and even Kaupo, the cars back up 10 or 15 deep on the one-lane roads, and at least every other car is a rented Dodge Neon.
That makes the recent recommendations by Mayor Kimo Apana's Transportation Action Committee all the more curious.
The committee is suggesting spending $1.5 million on short-term traffic solutions. Many of these are simple things, like restriping a road to add more lanes, synchronizing traffic lights and buying portable message boards. The committee also brought up a number of bypass roads and suggested appointing a county traffic coordinator.
The committee endorsed "smart-growth" studies that would ensure new roads are built at the same time as new developments.
But here's the thing: Every suggestion seemed to assume continued "growth" for the Valley Island. I use the word growth loosely because that's the nice way of saying development, which is still a nice way of saying mowing stuff down and paving stuff over.
Calling for "smart growth" studies pretty much admits the obvious: that growth on Maui hasn't been very smart in the past.
The committee, however, rejected a moratorium on development, saying it would not provide relief to the traffic situation.
Sure, but it would keep it from getting worse, right?
It seems Maui needs a reality check. It still thinks it's rural, but it wants all the commerce and convenience of urbanization. If Maui is going to try to have the economy of O'ahu, it needs to face up to the fact that "growth" comes with things that maybe they don't want so much. Like a freeway.
Of course, no one wants that. But how can Maui's very own H-4 be avoided when the underlying assumption in the community is that "growth" will continue at its current pace?
Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
