honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, March 4, 2002

Kailua road plan shelved

By Eloise Aguiar
Windward O'ahu Writer

KAILUA — Advocates for a new access road to Kailua High School thought they had hit pay dirt when they received a letter from the governor late last year pledging to include $3.5 million for the project in his next budget.

Then came a second letter. In this one, received in January, Gov. Ben Cayetano said he decided not to finance the work because the state had other projects with higher priority and because security concerns at the correctional facility near the planned road weren't resolved.

"When the security issues are addressed and the state economy improves, I will reconsider the proposed project along with the Department of Education priorities," Caye-tano said.

Community representatives were disappointed but vowed to keep the issue alive and get the road built. After all, waiting is something to which they've grown accustomed. This latest push for the road has been going on for three years, but the idea was first proposed 29 years ago.

With the state looking at a $300 million budget shortfall, the road and other new projects were probably the first to be eliminated from consideration, said Debbi Glanstein, Kailua Neighborhood Board legislative liaison.

But, she said, "The traffic situation doesn't get better just because you don't have money for it. It's not going to go away."

On school days, Sundays and during school events, the Pohakupu community sees hundreds of cars passing through the residential area to reach the high school on the two-lane, 17-foot-wide Ulumanu Drive.

The community, backed by Waimanalo residents who must travel through Castle Junction to reach Ulumanu, remains committed to building a new access off Kalaniana'ole Highway at the rise behind a Hawai'i Youth Correctional Facility building, Glanstein said.

The community has several options that it is pursuing, said Mike Heh, who is spearheading the effort.

The project, the subject of two appropriation bills introduced this session, was selected as state Sen. Bob Hogue's No. 1 priority for capital improvement projects and is the topic of concurrent resolutions asking the Transportation Department to create a task force to plan the road.

Hogue, R-24th (Kane'ohe, Kailua) said he didn't think the appropriation bills or his effort to get the road approved as his chief capital improvement project would be financed, though.

"It's just too difficult of a budget year," Hogue said.

The concurrent resolutions have the best chance of keeping the project alive and before the legislators, he said. Area representatives will introduce these resolutions, which call for the state Department of Transportation to take the lead in planning the road. Resolutions do not have the force of law, but they pave the way for future legislation.

A new access road would divert most of the traffic away from the residential area, Hogue said.

"The different departments have got to get together and make that happen to right those wrongs for these people who are basically going through hell every single morning and afternoon and any time there's a big event at Kailua High School," he said.

Heh said that the community wanted the project done this year because private construction companies have promised to contribute material or labor, adding that he wasn't sure how long those promises were good for.

"We're considering going back to the governor and asking him to use emergency power to get this started now, given the fact that we may not have free labor and material next year," he said.

Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.