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Waianae alternate
road plan in
the works

Engineering consultants say
building of the emergency route
could begin in 2003

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By Harold Morse
Star-Bulletin

Construction of a Waianae Coast emergency route that could be used when Farrington Highway is blocked could start in 2003, according to David Bills, vice president of Gray Hong Bills and Associates, city engineering consultants.

"We do have $1 million that we can spend on this project," Cheryl Soon, city transportation director, said at a community meeting last night.

About 350 Waianae residents turned out to learn about the Waianae Coast Emergency Routing Plan, and about 140 residents stayed to be broken into five subdistrict groups to air their concerns about the impact on their neighborhoods.

Bills said the scoping and definitions phase, which includes community participation, may take three or four months.

AREAS PLAN SESSIONS Future subdistrict meetings have been scheduled: Waianae subdistrict will meet at 7 p.m. Nov. 28 at the same multipurpose room. Makaha also chose the multipurpose room for a 7 p.m. meeting Nov. 15. Nanakuli Homesteads will hold its next planning session with its regular community association meeting at 7 p.m. Nov. 28 at Nanaikapono Elementary School. A group for Nanakuli itself, separate from the homesteads group, will meet at 7 p.m. Nov. 20 at Nanakuli High School.

"I'm a civil engineer, and I need some definitions of projects to get into the next phase," Bills said.

That phase is the preliminary engineering report, which may take nine months to a year to complete, he said.

He then will return to show the community what he has created, Bills said.

Following that will be an environmental assessment, which may take up to another year.

Another consultant, Bruce Tsuchida, a community planner with Townscape Inc., said ballpark figures might be that about half of the $1 million appropriation would be used in the preconstruction phase and the other half would go toward construction.

City Councilman Duke Bainum, the Council Transportation Committee chairman, attended the gathering in the Waianae District Park multipurpose room.

Bainum urged residents to take an active part in the planning.

Possible routes mauka of Farrington Highway have been suggested for the emergency route.

A number of these back roads are crooked and unimproved, extending between the foothills and the coast.

The proposed emergency route would link some of these marginal roads to provide a second access if natural disasters or incidents such as a water main break or a police standoff block Farrington.