Rock work to
close road to Hana

The project will restrict traffic
to certain hours for about eight months

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By Gary T. Kubota
gkubota@starbulletin.com

WAILUKU >> The scenic ride to rural Hana may take longer through most of next year as state workers construct barriers and install metal nets to reduce rockfall hazards in East Maui.

State officials plan to start the $2 million construction in early 2004 and take about eight months to complete the work.

Officials are holding public information meetings about the construction plan next Tuesday at Helene Hall in Hana Town, March 19 at the state transportation base yard at Keanae, and March 20 at the Haiku Community Center. The meetings start at 7 p.m.

More than an estimated 11,600 vehicles travel on Hana Highway each day, including visitors who enjoy traveling through a tropical rain forest with occasional waterfalls and sweeping ocean views.

The road is also the primary link for residents commuting between Hana and the port town of Kahului.

The proposed plan for road closures is the same as one used while the state rebuilt Hana Highway after a landslide at Honomanu in East Maui in 1999.

State transportation official Scot Urada said the previous plan, accepted by the communities in Hana, seemed to create the fewest problems.

Under the proposed plan, traffic during at least five workdays a week would be open from 4:30 to 6:30 a.m. and from 3 to 9:30 p.m.

A one-lane closure with alternating traffic would be in force from 8:30 to 11 a.m.

The highway would be closed from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and from 9:30 p.m. to 4:30 a.m.

One site selected for rockfall mitigation is located about a mile on the Kahului side of Kaumahina State Wayside Park, and the second is a third of a mile on the Kahului side of Wailuanui Stream.

The Kaumahina project includes the development of a 5-foot setback and installation of a metal mesh on the slope.

At Wailuanui the state plan includes building a concrete barrier and fencing to halt falling boulders.

Urada said officials plan to discuss at the meeting the traffic plan and the various options for reducing rockfall hazards.

He said the two sites are at the top of a list of 35 locations along Hana Highway identified by a consultant as vulnerable to falling rocks.

The proposed plan is described in the draft environmental assessment as "Hana Highway Rockfall Mitigation, Huelo to Hana."

Copies are available at various public libraries, including locations at Kahului and Wailuku.