Tunnel into
Waianaes considered

Initial reaction favors the city's
new notion for a bypass road

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By Gordon Y.K. Pang
gpang@starbulletin.com

City officials are looking at boring a path into the Waianae Mountains as part of a long-term plan to provide a secondary access to the Leeward Coast.

Meanwhile, they are moving ahead with a short-term solution, dubbed the Waianae Emergency Access Road, that involves a series of zigzags across existing and new back roads that could be used when a section of Farrington Highway gets snarled by a traffic accident or some other emergency.

Both plans will be presented by the city Department of Transportation Services at 7 p.m. tomorrow in the Nanakuli High School cafeteria.

Cheryl Soon, transportation services director, said the long-term plan, now in conceptual stages, calls for connecting Waianae and Kunia through a mile-long tunnel, or tunnels, under what is known as the Pohakea Pass.

The road would allow Leeward residents, who have long complained they only have one way in and out of the coast, to "bypass" the burgeoning Kapolei-Makakilo corridor when they travel outside their district.

A four-lane road on the east side, about 1.5 miles long on property owned by Campbell Estate, would then need to connect with Kunia Road near Hawaii Country Club, Soon said. That point would be about 3.5 miles from the H-1 freeway entrance.

Because of the steepness of the mountain on the Leeward side, the road would need to wind down to Lualualei Homestead Road near the gate to the Lualualei Naval Installation. "Our very, very preliminary discussions with them is that they are willing to talk," Soon said about the Navy's willingness to give up Lualualei Homestead Road.

Cost of the project is projected to cost between $219 million and $257 million, and would depend largely on whether two tunnels, similar to the configuration at Likelike Highway, need to be built.

Because of the steep grade, the speed limit for the road would be 30 to 35 mph.

The project is not on the Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization's 2025 long-range plan, which would make it more difficult to obtain the funding. Soon said, however, that the plan, approved earlier this year, was based on the premise that there was no known feasible way to create a bypass. Nothing prevents the agency, made up of state and city leaders, from amending the plan.

Previous state estimates put the cost of a Waianae mauka bypass at between $500 million and $1 billion.

Besides meeting with the Navy and Campbell Estate, Soon said, "We need to have a substantial amount of outreach in the community to determine whether there are any archaeological or cultural issues that would put a stop to this project."

The ambitious plan drew mostly favorable comments from Waianae community leaders.

Dick Boddi, a member of the Waianae Neighborhood Board, said a mauka bypass is essential in the event Leeward residents are forced to leave their homes because of a tsunami threat.

"The whole idea is to get us completely free from Farrington Highway," Boddi said.

Waianae Councilman John DeSoto said he would prefer a road connecting Kaena Point with Waialua, a plan that has been rejected based on environmental questions.

In lieu of that, DeSoto said, "this is something that I would endorse."

Cynthia Rezentes, Waianae Neighborhood Board chairwoman, said the Pohakea proposal could pose some challenges because there may be cultural sites in the area.

The short-term plan involves a connection of existing and new roads designed to provide detours in the event a section of Farrington Highway, from Makaha to Nanakuli, becomes blocked off as has happened several times in recent years.