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Kalanianaole
also faces threat
from falling rocks
A boulder 2 feet wide
Haleiwa's rockslide blues By Harold Morse
recently fell on the mauka
shoulder at Makapuu
Star-BulletinFalling rocks are a big concern at Makapuu as well as at Waimea Bay.
Waimanalo Neighborhood Board members held a news conference today at a parking lot near Makapuu Point to express their concerns.
Two rocks about 2 feet wide recently fell on the mauka shoulder of Kalanianaole Highway below a cliff about 200 feet from the Makapuu Lookout, said Joe Ryan, a neighborhood board member.
"If it would have hit a car, it would have killed somebody," Ryan claimed.
Ryan said he feared a falling rock might force the state to close Kalanianaole highway and shut off Waimanalo from Hawaii Kai. "We don't want to be like Haleiwa -- one way in and one way out," he said.
Marilyn Kali, the state Department of Transportation spokeswoman, said the state has no plans to close Kalanianaole Highway. She said the state is conducting a study on the problem at Makapuu.
Board members said DOT officials made a presentation at a recent meeting. They said the state is looking at several long-term solutions.
One option is to build a tunnel through the cliff near the Makapuu lookout. That option is preferred by the neighborhood board, said Wilfred Ho, the board chairman.
In Waimea yesterday, U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye announced that about $8.2 million in federal funds is slated to reconstruct the falling rock-prone quarter-mile stretch of Kamehameha Highway at Waimea.
This federal funding represents 80 percent of the overall cost of the permanent bypass road. The state will have to pick up the remaining $2.05 million.
Inouye and Kenneth Wykle, federal highway administrator, checked out the Waimea site yesterday. They received a tour and briefing on construction of the new road to replace the portion closed after a March 6 rockslide.
