Island History for Friday, June 4, 2010

In 1949, Kaua‘i Territorial Senator Noboru Miyake sought funds in the territorial senate for the construction of a road that would link the dead-end roads at Koke‘e and Ha‘ena and make travel by road completely around Kaua‘i a reality.

Miyake contended that the road would provide Kaua‘i with construction jobs and would facilitate the opening of land for housing and roadside businesses.  

Yet, Kaua‘i hotel operators opposed Miyake, arguing that they’d lose business, since an around-the-island road would cause tourists to spend less time on Kaua‘i by enabling them to see Kaua‘i in one day instead of the usual two — one day by driving east and other the by traveling west.

Although Miyake’s request for funds was denied, the territorial legislature persisted. In 1950, it called for a public works feasibility study for a highway serving northwestern Kaua‘i by citing “great potential for development” of tourism, agriculture, ranching and fishing.

The results of the study, published in 1951, sensibly took into consideration the enormous cost of building a road across mountainous terrain and concluded that a Koke‘e-Ha‘ena road would not be economically feasible.

The Kaua‘i Chamber of Commerce also opposed the road in 1953, but the Kaua‘i County Board of Supervisors favored it in 1954, stating the road would open an area of 120 square miles to farming, ranching, hotels and military use.

As a consequence, $10,000 was appropriated from the Territorial Fund for construction of a Koke‘e-Ha‘ena road, and the highway department began clearing the forest in Koke‘e with bulldozers.

But after eight months of bulldozing a four-mile path, the money ran out, leaving the bulldozers mired in the Alaka‘i Swamp.

Public Works then stated that the road “does not appear to be economically feasible because of its high costs,” and further requests for funding were denied.