Maui Stables owner Ed Lincoln in Kipahulu said he's not exactly sure why, but his business has been down 40 percent even though people can still reach him via Hana Highway. Domen and Lincoln, like other Kaupo and Kipahulu residents, whichever side of the road closure they live on, continue to cope with the effects of two earthquakes a year ago today. The two temblors shut down roads, uprooted some residents and disrupted lives.

Alan Arakawa, then the mayor, ordered Piilani Highway — on the backside of Haleakala — closed shortly after the quakes. Then, after observing rock falls in the area last December, Arakawa ordered a barricade to be placed at Lelekea to stop motorists from traveling along the unstable cliff sides between the rural communities of Kaupo and Kipahulu.

The barricade cuts off access to schools and jobs and has forced some residents to relocate and maintain two households. The highway closure also limits Hana and Kipahulu residents to one way in and out on Hana Highway.

Although the road closure and barricade are a disruption, some residents say they are OK with it.

During the past year, the county has been working with community groups and residents to assist them through the ordeal, said county spokeswoman Mahina Martin.

"We are thankful for the help that the county is providing in keeping us informed, involved and taking our suggestions into consideration," said the Kaupo Community Association board of directors in a statement to The Maui News. "They have been repairing the potholes and removing debris off the road."

The board said the county is helping to correct problems with the phone lines in the district and is also assisting Kaupo with grant opportunities for disasters.

While some in Kaupo are making do with the changes, Domen and her business are having a hard time staying afloat.

"We are very much struggling," Domen said last week.

Domen has used up her savings to maintain her family's household as well as to keep up with bills for the historic Kaupo Store.

She used to get tourists who drove the road to Hana and went back to the resorts via Piilani Highway. Now, "My business is still virtually null."

Domen said she wouldn't be able to relocate her entire family or work elsewhere because they wouldn't have a place to live and would need more money to run a second household.

She added that the cost of gas to drive out to Central Maui to work wouldn't be worth it.

On top of her business and financial problems, Domen said, she relocated her daughter, Leanani, to live with family in Pukalani, so she can attend King Kekaulike High School.

Domen said she recently moved her daughter after finding out that Piilani Highway would be completely closed when work begins in three undermined areas of Kalepa.

Domen used to drive up to the barricade at the Kukuiula Bridge and drop off Leanani, where a vehicle waiting on the other side would take her to Hana High & Elementary School.

At Maui Stables, Lincoln gets calls from potential customers saying they don't want to drive out to Kipahulu if all they can do is turn around at the barricade and head back on Hana Highway.

"They don't want to go back out the same way," he said.

Lincoln's business, on the Kipahulu side of the barricade, has been down since the closure, although Lincoln said he's not sure if all of it is attributable to the closure.

But he added,"It certainly has hurt us as the business community goes."

Lincoln said he has had to tighten his belt when it comes to finances, but "nature has been good." The grass has been growing, and he hasn't had a need to buy much feed for his animals.

"It could have been way worse."

Lincoln said he hopes the repair work is finished by next summer as that is a peak time for his stable tours.

But he added he is grateful for the repairs.

"I know when they are done it's going to be better."

Kaupo resident Robert Hale has been making do, and his brother Richard, visiting from the Mainland, has even helped out the county by cleaning out a culvert during the winter when county crews were not allowed on the closed Piilani Highway.

Robert Hale, who assists residents in the area with their solar power, as Kipahulu and Kaupo are off the grid, said he bought his brother's car so he could have one located on the Kipahulu side of the barricade to operate his business.

But he said he still doesn't know what he's going to do when the road is closed as work begins on the undermined areas of Kalepa.

Hale added that since the earthquake, he has seen fewer rocks on the roadway.

Kalepa resident Jonathan Starr said the road closure is a "mixed blessing."

Starr, who lives between Kaupo and Kipahulu, said it has been "nice and quiet" as compared to before when tourist cars and tour vans filled the road.

But on the other hand, the area's remoteness has attracted "miscreants," and the closed area has prohibited services and maintenance crews from entering.

Starr said a friend of his who was staying at his place could not get hospice care in Kalepa because the road is closed. The friend has since died.

Starr added that he and several others do not have phone service because the phone company cannot come into the area to make repairs.

Hawaiian Telcom spokeswoman Ann Nishida said crews laid a temporarily cable to restore service following the earthquake. But since then more and larger rocks have damaged the cable, and it has been too hazardous to send crews back.

"As much as we do like to get in and make repairs, first consideration is the safety of technicians," she said.

Although Starr has had to deal with some problems along the way, he is glad that the county is making repairs to the road, some of which he's been asking for for six years.

Kipahulu resident Mercury Bleu said it has been more of a "challenge" to go to Central Maui via Hana Highway.

She said there is much more traffic on Hana Highway, and the road is filled with more twists and turns than the Piilani Highway.

Bleu can't wait for Piilani to be fixed.

"We are hoping and waiting for it to open," she said.

Bleu and other Kipahulu residents say it takes them more time to get to Central Maui via the Hana Highway, and they would feel safer on Piilani Highway.

Kipahulu resident Ryan Zucco said he "doesn't have a problem" with the closures.

"I think it's kind of nice having the road closed. It's slowed the tourist traffic down in Kipahulu. It feels like it did 10 years ago, when it was mellow," he said.

Zucco, who co-manages the Whispering Winds Bamboo farm in Kipahulu and also lives in Kipahulu, said he doesn't mind having to go to town for work about once a week via the Hana Highway.

But when Piilani opens up, he'll probably again "go the back way."