WAILUKU, Maui — A Maui judge yesterday lifted his previous order that allowed only two vehicles per minute to exit from the Hawaii Superferry site at Kahului Harbor.

The action resolved the last "major operational issue" facing the new interisland ferry service before sailings to Maui resume Dec. 1, according to Hawaii Superferry President and CEO John Garibaldi. He said ticket sales have been "booming" since the company announced Friday that it would restart operations.

The two-vehicles-per-minute restriction was put in place in August by Maui Circuit Judge Joel August to address worries about ferry patrons aggravating congestion at one of the island's busiest intersections. The rule was opposed by ferry and state officials, who said it might cause lengthy delays for arriving passengers and interfere with the high-speed catamaran's turnaround time.

When the company's 350-foot vessel, Alakai, came to Maui on Aug. 27 — the last time it sailed to Kahului — it took 55 minutes to get the nearly 90 disembarking vehicles onto public roads instead of the 20 minutes predicted by ferry officials.

Instead of limiting the flow of vehicles, the judge yesterday ordered the state Department of Transportation to provide three trained personnel to manage the traffic flow based "on real-time conditions" at the ferry gate on the northern spur of Pu'unene Avenue and at the Ka'ahumanu Avenue intersection.

The ferry will depart Honolulu at 6:30 a.m. and arrive at Kahului Harbor three hours later. The departure time back to Honolulu is 11 a.m.

The company has put Kaua'i service on hold while it continues efforts to calm community concerns and prevent the kind of protests that blocked the ferry from docking at Nawiliwili Harbor on Aug. 27.

THE CARDOZA RULING

The Hawaii Superferry was cleared to sail after Maui Circuit Judge Joseph Cardoza last week dissolved an injunction that had halted service to Kahului Harbor until the state completed an environmental review of ferry-related port improvements. The injunction was lifted following passage of a new state law, known as Act 2, that removed any "large capacity ferry vessel company" from environmental review under Chapter 343 of the Hawai'i Revised Statutes, the state's environmental protection act.

Act 2 allows Hawaii Superferry to operate while environmental studies are conducted, with Gov. Linda Lingle setting more than 40 operating conditions in an attempt to address concerns such as the potential for collisions with humpback whales and the spread of alien species.

The case before Cardoza stemmed from a legal challenge of the DOT's exemption of the harbor improvements from Chapter 343.

The case before Judge August was initiated by the Maui Tomorrow Foundation, the Kahului Harbor Coalition and Friends of Haleakala National Park, who disputed an environmental assessment of a group of projects contained in the DOT's Kahului Harbor Master Plan 2025. One of the projects already completed is a bridge over a drainage canal that will be used by vehicles going to and from the ferry.

The judge ruled in May that the assessment was inadequate with respect to potential traffic impacts and ordered a new traffic study. He later established traffic-control measures that included the two-vehicles-per-minute restriction, reconfiguration of the Pu'unene and Ka'ahumanu intersection, and making space available for ferry customers at the Kahului Airport overflow parking lot, about two miles from the harbor.

FERRY A SEPARATE ISSUE

Deputy Attorney General William Wynhoff yesterday argued that Act 2 should apply in this case as well. He cited language in the new law that states "the environmental review process for state action in connection with a large-capacity ferry vessel company shall be governed by this act and not by Chapter 343 of Hawai'i Revised Statutes."

He also noted that opposition to the Kahului Harbor Master Plan 2025 has focused solely on projects connected to Hawaii Superferry.

"What we are left with is another situation in which the law was changed, such that Chapter 343 does not now apply to this action from the court," Wynhoff said.

Wailuku Attorney Isaac Hall, representing Maui Tomorrow and the other two groups, said "this is a monumental act of overreaching by the state of Hawai'i to argue that Act 2 somehow covers the 2025 master plan environmental assessment."

Lifting traffic-control mitigation "will lead to chaos" at the Puunene-Ka'ahumanu intersection, he said.

Maui County Deputy Corporation Counsel Jane Lovell said she was alarmed by Wynhoff's argument, which she said suggested that any future improvements at harbors used by the Superferry would be exempt from Chapter 343.

August said the state wanted to have it both ways by claiming now that the harbor master plan was all about the Superferry.

He noted "the state has argued from the very beginning ... that the Superferry has absolutely nothing at all to do with the harbor 2025 master plan."

The judge said Act 2 has nothing to do with the master plan, and that the DOT is still obligated to comply with Chapter 343 with respect to improvements covered by the plan.

Reach Christie Wilson at cwilson@honoluluadvertiser.com.