HANAMA‘ULU – Mayor Bryan Baptiste, various county officials and dignitaries gathered for a blessing at the northern end of Hanama‘ulu town Friday morning to mark the official opening of an emergency bypass road between Hanama‘ulu and Wailua. The former cane
HANAMA‘ULU – Mayor Bryan Baptiste, various county officials and dignitaries gathered for a blessing at the northern end of Hanama‘ulu town Friday morning to mark the official opening of an emergency bypass road between Hanama‘ulu and Wailua.
The former cane haul road is anticipated to provide motorists an alternate way to get from Kapa‘a to Lihu‘e should an accident occur on Kuhio Highway between Wailua and Hanama‘ulu and halts or significantly slows down traffic on the highway.
The emergency bypass road begins in an area by the Roberts Hawaii Tours business in Hanama‘ulu and ends on a road immediately mauka of the Aloha Beach Resort.
The emergency bypass road measures about two miles and takes just over 10 minutes to drive under normal conditions.
“It will be very helpful when that highway has to be closed down,” said interim Kaua‘i Police Chief K.C. Lum during a “test drive” with officials over the road after the blessing ceremony.
Lihue Plantation officials had allowed motorists to use the cane haul road during emergencies in the past. But that use was discontinued after the sugar company went out of business in recent years.
Through an arrangement with Kaua‘i County officials, leaders with the state Department of Hawaiian Homes Commission and the Lihue Land Company, the new owner of the cane haul road and thousands of surrounding acres, granted the county a “right-of-entry” to use the road, according to Mark Hubbard, a Grove Farm executive.
Grove Farm manages the lands owned by Lihue Land Company, owned by Steve Case, former chairman of CEO America Online Inc. and AOL Time Warner.
The “right-of-entry” will allow Kaua‘i County to use the road almost indefinitely, Hubbard said. The road, however, can only be used during emergencies.
Baptiste said the road will benefit Kauaians for generations to come.
The impetus for the bypass road came partly after residents and Baptiste expressed concerns Kuhio Highway in East Kaua‘i could become impassable during auto accidents or disasters.
Baptiste supported efforts to employ an ordinance allowing the county to enter into agreements with private landowners to establish emergency roadways, although the law had never been implemented, administration officials said.
Baptiste praised county employees from Kaua‘i County Public Works Highways Division sections from Kapa‘a, Hanalei and Hanapepe who cleared the road of vegetation in prior months to make the road safe for use.
Russell Sugano, chief of operations of the Highways Division of the Kaua‘i County Public Works Department, recognized Patrick Shimamoto, district road overseer of the Public Works Division in Kapa‘a and 20 of his workers who attended the blessing.
Baptiste said “right-of-entry” agreements for emergency bypass roads may be established elsewhere on Kaua‘i, to bring emergency traffic relief in other communities.
Sugano said the county is hoping to establish a “right-of-entry” on cane roads that run south from an area by the Kauai Humane Society building in Kipu, through the Kipu Tunnel, and to areas by the former McBryde Sugar Company mill in Koloa.
Sugano said county officials also are looking at establishing a “right-of-entry” that would run from Ma‘alo Road in Kapaia and northward inland over state land to an arboretum in Wailua.
Giving the blessing of the ceremony for the emergency bypass road from Hanama‘ulu to Wailua was the Rev. Kahu Wayne Vidinha.
Attending the ceremony were Laurie Yoshida, the Kaua‘i liaison for Gov. Lingle; Tom Contrades, the Kaua‘i representative on the board of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands; Deputy County Engineer Ladye Martin; Beth Tokioka, who heads the Kaua‘i County Office of Economic Development; Deputy County Attorney Christiane Nakea; Clayton Arinaga, a KPD assistant chief, KPD Lt. Scott Yagihara and Baptiste staffers, Kaui Tanaka and Laurie Kelekoma.
Staff writer Lester Chang can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and lchang@pulitzer.net
