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AS state transportation director Kazu Hayashida watched the first cars cross the new Menehune Connector through Waimea Bay last Saturday, one driver shouted out the window, "Sorry I called you stupid." Nice going, Kazu...
It's an apology many of us owe to Hayashida, Gov. Ben Cayetano and other state officials who worked effectively with the city, military, private contractors and North Shore residents to briskly get the temporary road in operation and planning started on a permanent fix after a rock slide closed Kamehameha Highway on March 6.
It's also a lesson on how we should sometimes reserve judgment and not be so quick to jump to the conclusion that our state government can't do anything right.
When 20 cubic yards of boulders and dirt from the cliffs above came crashing down on Kamehameha Highway above Waimea Bay, we were lucky nobody was hurt. The state was right to close the highway to make sure it stayed that way. Big rocks still hang dangerously above the road.
The road closing split the North Shore in two and disrupted stranded residents and area businesses suddenly inaccessible to their customers. Complaints about the state grew loud.
Critics said state officials were being too timid for fear of legal liability after the rockslide tragedy at Sacred Falls.
They said officials should let traffic through at the drivers' own risk. Never mind the very real threat of further rock slides. They said the state should blow up the mountainside. Never mind the danger to nearby homes and Hawaiian burial sites.
They said state transportation officials should have their salaries withheld until the road was fixed -- as if it was their fault the boulders fell.
When engineers proposed the temporary road across the beach at Waimea Bay, critics said high waves would rip up the road and pollute Waimea's pristine sand with the road's crushed coral. Whether by dumb luck or smart engineering, the winter waves have stayed away and it hasn't happened yet.
It's time to give credit to the state and its partners. They had a walkway across the beach and shuttle service on both sides within days. The complex bypass road was carrying traffic in less than two weeks. They now have solid plans for a permanent bypass by June.
Predictions that everything the state did would come in way late and over budget have proved unfounded. The temporary bypass cost $500,000 to put in and will cost another $250,000 to take out - well worth the cost for the grief it spares North Shore residents and businesses.
THE permanent bypass engineers came up with involves widening the existing highway above Waimea Bay and using most of the old road as a rock catchment area.
It will cost $4 million -- less than the alternatives of blowing up the hillside or building an expensive tunnel or bridge -- and should be finished a couple of months sooner than the other proposals. And this simplest of plans preserves the area's esthetics and spares the Hawaiian burial sites.
Critics said the only guarantee as the state worked on the problem was that everybody would end up unhappy. Most North Shore residents seem pretty upbeat these days.
State officials took a prudent amount of time to find the right solution that could be done most quickly, for the least amount of money and cause the least environmental damage.
Next time you see Kazu Hayashida, tell him you're sorry for calling him stupid.
David Shapiro is managing editor of the Star-Bulletin.
He can be reached by e-mail at editor@starbulletin.com.
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