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Emergency
route makai of
Farrington proposed

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By Harold Morse
Star-Bulletin

State Rep. Michael Kahikina has a better idea for a Nanakuli emergency route if Farrington Highway is blocked.

He suggested a route makai of Farrington -- to be used only for emergencies -- from Pohakunui Avenue all the way west to Lualualei Naval Road last night at a Waianae Coast Emergency Access Road Plan subdistrict meeting at Nanakuli High School.

Kahikina said he'd recommend this route over an earlier proposed emergency route between Helelua Street and Haleakala Ave., some distance mauka of Farrington. Kahikina and others object to this mauka of Farrington route because it cuts through grounds of the Door of Faith Church and a small nearby park at Puuheleakala Community Center.

The makai route, running along the old Oahu Railway tracks below Farrington, would be less intrusive, said Kahikina, D-Barbers Point-Nanakuli-Maili-Waianae.

The Nanakuli subdistrict meeting dealt essentially with the Helelua Street to near Pilokahi Avenue portion of an overall emergency route from Makaha to east Nanakuli.

"This (Nanakuli) is the most difficult section to make connections," said David Bills of Gray Hong Bills Nojima and Associates, consultants to the city on the emergency route. Much of the plan involves connecting back roads from Makaha to Nanakuli to provide a continuity to allow traffic to move.

Although only a handful attended last night's meeting, discussion was detailed. A new bridge would have to be built for the makai route that Kahikina suggested, and this cost would have to be factored in while comparing the makai route with other alternatives, Bills said.

"All this (overall) project is really geared to do is get you home faster," he added. "It won't be the 16 hours (delay that has happened). That's the thing we're looking for."

The idea is to provide a second way in and out of the Waianae Coast corridor in case Farrington is blocked by such things as a broken water main, accident, police standoff or natural disaster, such as a hurricane or tsunami, Bills emphasized.

"If you just needed a quart of milk, I'd probably stay home," he said.

The city has appropriated $1 million to plan the emergency Waianae Coast Road and get it under way, and residents are asked to attend meetings on the proposed route.

Maps and information about the project can be seen at: www.wcear.org.

A Makaha subdistrict meeting takes place at 7 p.m. Thursday at Waianae District Park Arts and Crafts Room.