KAHULUI - By summer, Kuikahi Drive and Maui Lani Parkway will be linked by a mile of new pavement, opening a new thoroughfare from Waikapu to Kuihelani Highway, The Maui News reported today.

The roadwork, part of the master plan of Maui Lani, also will provide access to a 57-acre Maui Lani Village Center, a village mixed-use commercial-residential project.

The road also will contribute significantly to regional traffic circulation.

Mike Miyamoto, deputy director of the county Public Works Department, said he could not estimate how many vehicles would be diverted from older streets, but he said Tuesday that state highway planners are expecting to see less traffic on Kaahumanu Avenue, a state road.

It also will shorten commutes for many people. Parents in Waikapu, for example, will have a shorter trip to get students to the new Pomaikai Elementary School, which is near the new village center and a regional park.

"It will make traveling from Wailuku Heights to Kahului much easier," said Miyamoto.

Maui Lani Partners declined to say how much the road will cost, and the opening date cannot now be specified more closely than "this summer."

For now, the road will mark generally the western edge of Maui Lani, although some subdivisions have already advanced past it. But eventually, the Kuikahi-Maui Lani Parkway route will be an internal route, as Maui Lani still has about 2,700 dwellings to construct. About 1,000 have already been built.

Later also, Maui Lani Parkway will be extended around the edge of the Dunes at Maui Lani golf course to link to the completed portion that extends from Baldwin High School to just beyond Maui Memorial Medical Center. When that happens, Onehee Avenue will have an intersection with the parkway, providing yet another access to the busy shopping and educational center around Maui Community College and Queen Ka'ahumanu Center.

No schedules for these additions to the Maui Lani traffic circulation have been announced.

* Harry Eagar can be reached at heagar@mauinews.com.