Delays hit state
plan to protect
H-3 sites

Consultants seek
to preserve cultural and
archaeological areas

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By Pat Omandam
Star-Bulletin

State consultants developing a plan to preserve Hawaiian archaeological and cultural sites along the H-3 freeway say the work may be done by August 2005, four years later than planned.

Kahikina D. Akana, project coordinator for the Halawa-Luluku Interpretive Development, said the group is seeking community input and wants to hear from interested parties as it plans how to develop these sites.

The consultants, who are state employees working with Office of Hawaiian Affairs administrator Randy Ogata, are carrying out a 1987 memorandum of agreement with the Federal Highways Administration and various state agencies, including OHA, to mitigate any adverse impact resulting from the construction of the 3-1/2-year-old freeway.

"When you stand in the valley, and you just stand there and listen to the traffic that goes up and down the freeway, you understand the impact that the freeway has on what used to be a quiet natural setting," Akana told OHA trustees yesterday.

The H-3 opened in December 1997 after 30 years of planning, protest, redesign and building.

The agreement, which stemmed from an OHA lawsuit over the Luluku archaeological sites in Kaneohe, is using $11.2 million in federal highway funds held by the state Department of Transportation to preserve and interpret the 160 cultural resources located in Halawa Valley and the Luluku terraces.

A strategic planner will be hired to help with the process. The design phase is slated between 2002-2003, with the third implementation phase set for 2003-2005.

Akana, hired as project coordinator in April 2000, said his goal is for a "fair and credible" process in which every person interested can have a say in this plan. To that end, consultants have created a Web site, http://www.hlid.org, intended as an interactive discussion forum.

For information, call 587-4391 or e-mail info@hlid.org. Write to: HL Interpretive Development, 677 Ala Moana, Suite 811, Honolulu 96813.