LIHU‘E — After more than four months, Polihale State Park will once again be opened to the public. The Department of Land and Natural Resources will reopen the park’s access road today at 8 a.m., according to a press release.
LIHU‘E — After more than four months, Polihale State Park will once again be opened to the public.
The Department of Land and Natural Resources will reopen the park’s access road today at 8 a.m., according to a press release. A brief reopening ceremony is planned.
The park has been closed since its infrastructure sustained extensive damage during December flooding. In March, “a small army of volunteer workers stepped up to provide skilled labor, equipment and materials to fix damage to the road and portions of the park’s water system,” the release said.
“We want to thank the people of Kaua‘i, the large number of volunteer crew members, and others who provided monetary or food donations for the workers, for their phenomenal and good-spirited efforts for the good of the community,” DLNR chairperson Laura Thielen said in the release. “Due to their love for this beach park, community members devoted themselves to accomplish those repair tasks necessary to allow us to safely re-open as much of the park as possible.”
Westside community leader Bruce Pleas, who first coordinated with DLNR State Parks personnel and helped organize the massive volunteer effort, expressed pride in the community when reached Friday.
“It just shows what we do when stuff needs to be done,” Pleas said in a phone interview, pointing to community response to hurricanes as further proof of the island’s aloha spirit. “It’s just Kaua‘i style.”
Thielen agreed, saying, “The community members personally, collectively, and unselfishly worked together towards the common purpose of re-opening the park.”
“The volunteers had to bring in water for making concrete. They brought in generators to power the welders. They brought in excavators, cranes, bobcats, cement mixers, dump trucks, graders, and other equipment. … Most important, they brought in an extremely strong sense of purpose and aloha.”
DLNR said, and Pleas agreed, that the state did not have the funding to perform the maintenance, and that only the volunteers’ hard work allowed the park to be reopened this quickly.
According to the release, work completed by volunteer crews included:
— Bridge repair and improvements: welding surface pieces in place, pouring concrete access segments, installation of vehicle barrier rails, clearing accumulated debris below to re-establish ability for natural flow under the bridge, and adding structural supports.
— Repair of four roadway washouts: tasks include grading four miles of roadway, and portions covered in silt run-off or scoured out, repair of the road accessing the park water well and pump, repair of the broken water line to four comfort stations, and blocking off vehicle access to the fifth comfort station that was severely damaged by the Dec. 11 rain storm.
DLNR staff has not yet estimated the actual value of the volunteers’ efforts but it could be worth near $200,000, the release said. The last time the road to Polihale State Park was graded, it cost the state $90,000.
In addition to the volunteers’ work, other tasks completed by DLNR State Parks staff included: clearing of drainage culverts, cleaning comfort stations, adding safety and information signage, installation of rock barriers to prevent vehicles from driving into culverts at the approaches to the two bridges, and installation of road edge markers at two drainage spots where washouts were repaired.
Camping permits for Polihale will again be issued starting Monday, DLNR said.
