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Residents, merchants
debate need for alternate
route to Wahiawa

By Pat Gee
Star-Bulletin

One road in, one road out of Wahiawa.

It causes heavy traffic and could result in the community being cut off, but it also brings business.

So when someone suggested an alternative to Kamehameha Highway, some Wahiawa residents thought it was a good idea, but many asked: "Do we really need it?"

Ben Acohido, chairman of the Wahiawa Neighborhood Board, said urgency for a second entrance into Wahiawa is even greater now than it was when first proposed in the 1950s.

It would be one of the keys to revitalizing the economy of the town, the focus of the Wahiawa Town Master Plan, because it would bring more people into the area without forcing them to use a congested highway, he said.

Sen. Robert Bunda (D, Wahiawa, North Shore) said further study has to be done to determine where an alternate road would be most advantageous. The Legislature recently approved $3 million for this study, said Bunda, who is "totally in favor of it for accessibility and economic viability."

He pointed to the rockslide at Waimea Bay in February which closed off Kamehameha Highway -- "look what happened to business in Haleiwa; it was cut 50 percent."

Lance Mclain, owner of Dragon Tattoo, which has done business on Kamehameha Highway for 14 years, said Wahiawa is "such a small town, with only four stoplights, you're in and out of here so quick. It doesn't get that congested. I could find a better use for the money being spent.

"Where's the public outcry? I don't see people yelling for another bridge or road!" he added.

Maj. William Gullege of the Wahiawa Police Station said, "Personally, and from a policeman's point of view, I've never seen a need for it. I've never known traffic to be that backed up. It's not like it's gridlocked; traffic flows through" at an even pace.

If one side into Wahiawa is blocked, people can drive around the lake on Wilikina Drive to the other side of town and re-connect with Kamehameha Highway. It's an inconvenience, said Gullege, a 15-year resident, but it only takes 15 to 30 minutes at the most.

"It would be nice to have, but you can't justify it as far as the tax dollars spent," he said.

Andrew Lee, manager of L&L Drive-In on Kamehameha Highway for six years, said an alternate route would probably cause stores to lose business. He noticed that his restaurant was affected even by the February rockslide at Waimea Bay, which closed the highway on the North Shore.

Grant Kamisugi, owner of Judy's Florist, which has been on the highway for 50 years, agreed that an alternate route would mean less traffic but also less business. William Lauth, a nine-year employee of Mike's Pawn Shop on the highway, said a connecter road wouldn't hurt business but "a total bypass road would hurt business like it did in Haleiwa."

Milt Sagon, a Wahiawa resident who works at Wahiawa Hospital, said traffic on the highway has never affected emergency vehicles, but "I think we need it in light of what happened on the North Shore," when the rockslide "totally paralyzed the community ... Anything that promotes a quicker entry is a plus for the community."

Gabriel Gongob, a school bus driver with Roberts Hawaii on North Cane Street, said "there's a mean tie-up of traffic" every Friday afternoon "but generally it's not bad unless you have an accident."

Joseph Gonzales, a supervisor at Pioneer Ace Hardware who grew up in Wahiawa, said the "traffic doesn't affect me, but customers grumble a lot when the military gets paid (twice a month) and after school."