Almost a year after Gov. Linda Lingle released $3.5 million in construction funds to extend the Kapa‘a bypass road from its current terminus at ‘Olohena Road near Kapa‘a New Park, work is on to extend the road. The road, which
Almost a year after Gov. Linda Lingle released $3.5 million in construction funds to extend the Kapa‘a bypass road from its current terminus at ‘Olohena Road near Kapa‘a New Park, work is on to extend the road.
The road, which runs from Wailua to Kapa‘a, will eventually continue mauka of the park to end at Kuhio Highway north of Kapa‘a, near existing highway intersections with Haua‘ala and Kawaihau roads.
Roadway improvements were expected to have begun last year, but were delayed.
“This is a small but significant step in the right direction, and good news for the people who travel the Kapa‘a corridor,” said state Sen. Gary L. Hooser, D-Kaua‘i-Ni‘ihau, when Lingle announced she had released the funds.
“The entire Kaua‘i legislative delegation has worked hard to secure and hold onto this funding, and it is very satisfying to see the construction money finally being put to its intended use,” Hooser added.
The next step, Hooser said last year, is to also accelerate the Pouli Road connector project, press for a long-term bypass preferred-route determination, and develop an emergency plan to utilize former sugar-cane roads that parallel the Hanama‘ulu-to-Wailua corridor of Kuhio Highway.
As of now, only the emergency route between the Wailua River and Hanama‘ulu has been completed, though it has rarely if ever been used.
The Pouli Road connector would be a road running from the existing Kapa‘a bypass road, tying to an existing section of Pouli Road near Waipouli Town Center, allowing traffic to move between the bypass road and the Waipouli commercial area.
