• The Gateway Project The Gateway Project The Gateway Project is now several years old and well along in its development. Thousands of volunteer hours have gone into the federally-funded project that aims at giving visitors to Kaua‘i, as well
• The Gateway Project
The Gateway Project
The Gateway Project is now several years old and well along in its development. Thousands of volunteer hours have gone into the federally-funded project that aims at giving visitors to Kaua‘i, as well as local residents, a positive feeling about the Island whether they are arriving or departing Kaua‘i.
A portion of federal airport funds are designated for beautification and improvement projects within a certain distance from major airports in the United States. The funds can be used for a variety of projects including road improvements, and for roadside landscaping, as has happened outside of the Lihu‘e Airport. The greenery and color plants extend up Ahukini Road towards Lihu‘e town, and northward along Kapule Highway so visitors heading for all of Kaua‘i’s major resorts get to experience the landscaping. Large rock walls that say aloha to passengers coming and going are also part of the project.
As might be expected, while a number of volunteers continue to keep the project going, there is a lack of support for the entire stretch of highway. The initial work and maintenance on the project was done by Kauai Nursery & Landscaping, and it took professional crews to do a thorough job on both planting, growing and maintaining the project.
Next Wednesday Mayor Bryan Baptiste, who made his mark in part as a politician through his beautification plans for county parks, is gathering volunteers at a meeting in Lihu‘e where he is to give an update on the future of the program. State Highways representative Steve Kyono is to be at the meeting, and it’s expected that the state is going to play a bigger role in the project.
The volunteers who have kept the Gateway Project going are to be congratulated, and thanked. The look and feel of the entrances to the airport are a big improvement, and help mask the unsightly uncultivated former Lihue Plantation sugar cane fields that border the airport on its mauka side.
However, to help is needed to keep up this look. A visit to the airports of tropical Third World countries is often a showcase for failed or neglected highway civic projects, many of which give the area a worse look than if the areas had been kept untouched. That’s something we don’t need as we greet visitors to our Island’s resorts.
As the overall goals of the volunteer-backed project aren’t being fully met, immediate planning is needed to make a shift into a newer and more comprehensive maintenance program. It appears that is what will happen beginning next Wednesday.
