Wai'anae access road plan put on fast track by city
By James Gonser
Advertiser Leeward Bureau
NANAKULI — More than 100 Wai'anae Coast residents asked city officials to move forward quickly with plans to create an emergency access route designed to provide a way around roadblocks on Farrington Highway, the only direct road into the area.
Residents and the city have been working on the project for about one year and reached a consensus last week to begin the project in Nanakuli, then move up the coast toward Wai'anae.
Although residents were told construction would not begin until next year, after an environmental assessment is completed, they were satisfied that the project is moving forward, said Wai'anae resident Mark Suiso.
"The people really put a lot of thought into this thing and they want some action. We are looking at the quickest way to get something done," said Suiso. "Everybody that had their own agenda that served to delay the project was put aside. They wanted some action, they wanted some results, and they got it."
The city's plan is to link a patchwork of back roads along the Leeward Coast to create an emergency route to allow area residents to bypass bottlenecks and situations such as accidents, fires or water main breaks on Farrington Highway.
Maps of the four areas, Nanakuli, Ma'ili/Lualualei, Wai'anae and Makaha, have been created during public meetings to plot out the route. In some areas, bridges and new roads will need to be built, and in other spots, private land will be purchased or a right-of-way obtained to create the link.
The next public meeting likely will be held in November or December, after the environmental assessment is done, said Cheryl Soon, city Department of Transportation Services director.
"Then we can go ahead into final design and begin construction," Soon said. "We would like to move very quickly. We would like to begin as soon as possible in 2002."
Some residents said the city's emergency route would not be a long-term answer to the community's access problem, and that they could become totally isolated during a tsunami or hurricane.
Toward that goal, the group discussed a city plan to dig a tunnel through the Wai'anae mountains, creating a road connecting Lualualei Homestead Road with Kunia Road near the Hawaii Country Club at an estimated cost of between $200 million and $250 million.
"The question posed to us was, does this idea have have merit?" Suiso said. "Whether it is feasible or not was not even in consideration. There was not a lot of optimism that the tunnel would really happen. It would be eight to 10 years if everything gets a green light along the way. At least it is looking forward."
