Even though it would likely take years and millions of dollars to build and would divert traffic away from Lihu’e, an inland bypass road running from Puhi to Hanama’ulu may actually help revitalize Lihue’s town core, according to Kaua’i County
Even though it would likely take years and millions of dollars to build and would divert traffic away from Lihu’e, an inland bypass road running from Puhi to Hanama’ulu may actually help revitalize Lihue’s town core, according to Kaua’i County engineer Cesar Portugal.
Speaking to around 30 members of Lihu’e Business Association at the group’s meeting Wednesday, Portugal said the road is needed not only to alleviate morning and afternoon congestion along Kaumuali’i Highway, Rice Street and Kuhio Highway, but also because it’s planned to be the main road leading to a proposed new county landfill near Hanama’ulu.
The proposed road would run from Kaumuali’i Highway near the Puhi Road intersection at Kaua’i Community College and emerge north of Hanama’ulu, near the intersection of Kuhio Highway and Kaua’i Beach Drive at the entrance to Radisson Kaua’i Beach Resort.
The bypass road being proposed by the county, while providing an alternative route in case of emergencies, might also help revitalize the Kuhio Highway corridor through Lihu’e by encouraging businesses along that route to modernize storefronts, Portugal said.
“I think Lihu’e needs it,” he said of economic revitalization.
If less traffic finds Rice Street as a result of the inland bypass road, the county might eventually reinstate more on-street parking on Rice, he said.
The bypass would have a connector road for traffic in and out of Lihu’e near the Isenberg Tract subdivision, Portugal said.
It’s possible that Grove Farm Co. and Lihu’e Land Co. (formerly Amfac Sugar Kaua’i’s Lihu’e Plantation), owners of most of the land through which the bypass road could run, would negotiate with the county to sell it enough acreage for the road, he continued.
But a bypass road won’t come overnight, Portugal cautioned.
“It takes a long time to build a road,” like the 25 years to finish Kapule Highway from Ahukini Road near Lihu’e Airport to Kuhio Highway near Hanama’ulu, and the 15 to 20 years for the Koloa bypass road, he said.
Alternative routes are needed, said Ed Kawamura of M. Kawamura Farm Enterprises. He claimed heavy traffic stifles the economy, with local people staying at home rather than going out to eat, shop and socialize because they don’t want to be stuck in traffic.
That homebound mentality could eventually cost the island its aloha spirit, Kawamura warned. Further, he advocated a road running from the Tree Tunnel near Koloa all the way to Princeville, along an existing power line, to be a scenic toll road.
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
