Early morning rush-hour traffic northbound on Ft. Weaver Road near the Kolowaka Drive intersection is bumper-to-bumper even before sunrise. State officials hope to have the money to begin construction of a new road by next year. Advertiser Library Photo

Work on the much-anticipated North-South Road is now expected to start in late 2004. The $120 million project should be completed in 2006 if all goes as planned, state officials and legislators said at a community meeting on Tuesday.

But disgruntled residents said they are tired of the state making promises and setting timetables that keep changing or are never realized.

"This is just talk; we have nothing," said Wayne Kaneko, 68, who has lived his entire life in 'Ewa Beach. "And we're still sitting here with a traffic problem."

The North-South Road would run from Kapolei to H-1 and provide residents an alternative to Fort Weaver Road, the only artery that leads out of 'Ewa. The project has been talked about for more than 15 years.

But officials told more than two dozen residents they're confident the state can secure most of the $120 million needed to build the road from the federal government, allowing construction to begin next year.

Representatives from the state Department of Transportation, state Department of Land and Natural Resources, Hawaiian Homelands and the University of Hawai'i attended the informational meeting, along with more than two dozen residents.

"There is no new highway on O'ahu competing for those dollars," said Glenn Yasui, administrator for DOT's Highways Division. "This project is on a faster track."

But if the state doesn't get most of the $120 million needed to build the road at one time, the project will most likely be phased and its completion date will be pushed back, he said.

"The bottom line is it's going to get built," said Sen. Willie Espero, D-20th ('Ewa Beach, Waipahu), who sponsored the meeting. "We'll just need to be a little patient."

Some residents called for the completion of Kapolei Parkway, which would connect 'Ewa Villages at Renton Road with the Villages at Kapolei. Others voiced concern about the city's plan to widen Fort Weaver Road next year.

"You just took away our only hope for another way out of here," Kaneko said. "You just threw us back to the dark ages. We're fine with Fort Weaver Road the way it is. Don't dig it up."

'Ewa has been a traffic nightmare for years as rapid residential development overwhelmed infrastructure.

According to the 2000 Census, the 'Ewa Beach/'Ewa population increased to 22,326 — a 131 percent increase — from 1990, but the community still has only one major access, four-lane Fort Weaver Road.

For all their assurances, officials reiterated that construction of the North-South Road hinges on federal money. However, district legislators called the road a top priority.

The previous delay in the project — construction on the road was supposed to have started this year — was caused by several factors. Planners had to figure out an adequate drainage plan, deal with the removal of an endangered plant and find enough money to design and build the roadway.

The DOT has put together an interim drainage plan specific for the North-South Road that will be effective in dealing with surface run-off in the area.

To deal with the red ilima, an endangered plant found in the gulch where the road would cut through, DLNR has out-planted close to 200 plants, said Mike Buck, head of the state Division of Forestry and Wildlife. There are only about 30 plants left in the gulch.

"I don't expect the plants to be in the way at all," Buck said.

The construction of UH-West O'ahu is expected to be completed when the road opens in 2006, just in time for the 1,500 students expected to enroll that spring, said William A. Pearman, UH chancellor for the West O'ahu campus.

About 200 of the 500 acres alloted for the campus will be developed by 2006, he said. In 10 years the university projects about 7,000 students at the Kapolei campus.

"Hopefully our schedule doesn't contribute to the traffic problem," Pearman said. "We are anxious to see the North-South Road built. We want to be good neighbors."