North Shore highway
on Kauai gains protectionProponents see it as a way to shield
the area from development
LIHUE >> A 28-year effort by a group of North Shore Kauai residents has resulted in a 10-mile stretch of highway between Princeville and Kee Beach being placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The designation, granted last month by the National Park Service, was promoted by the Hanalei Roads Committee, a self-appointed group interested in preventing development on the North Shore.
It locks in place the 13 single-lane bridges along what is officially called State Highway 560. The low load limits on the single-lane bridges have made it impossible for large tour buses and trucks hauling heavy construction equipment to traverse the North Shore.
The state Highways Division has opposed the designation, arguing the highway is heavily used by tourists and should be widened and provided with two-lane bridges.
"You can't imagine how many calls I've received over the years from people building homes on the North Shore when they find out they can't take a container loaded with materials over those bridges and have to break down their loads on smaller trucks," said Kauai District Highway Engineer Steve Kyono.
Haena, close to the end of the road at Kee Beach, has become a destination for the rich and famous in recent years. Actor Pierce Brosnan owns a home there. Actress Calista Flockhart has been a longtime and frequent tenant, last year with Harrison Ford.
High-end home builders in Haena have solved the transportation problem by hiring tugboats and barges to bring in equipment and materials too heavy for the highway bridges. It is not a cheap solution.
Kyono concedes that many of Kauai's North Shore residents, not just activists, want the highway maintained as it is.
"We've gone out and talked with many specific groups representing all interests. The common thread has been that they want to preserve the one-lane bridges," Kyono said.
"A lot of it has to do with lifestyle and fears of losing that lifestyle. Many people believe the one-lane bridges are protecting them," Kyono said.
Activist Ray Chuan, of Hanalei, frequently has proposed an even more radical step: barring all tourists from driving on the North Shore and requiring them to use shuttle buses from Princeville instead.
He points out that Kee Beach is one of the island's most visited tourist attractions and causes heavy traffic all along the North Shore. Parking at Kee Beach is a nightmare, he said.
Barbara Robeson, a longtime anti-development activist and former Kauai Planning Commission chairwoman, chairs the Hanalei Roads Committee, which she says is "ad hoc" without any formal membership. The committee was created in 1976, and Robeson has been active in it since 1978.
"There's no question that keeping big tour buses off the North Shore was the original intent" of the committee, Robeson said. "The emphasis has changed as we became more involved with the history of the road."
Still, she is pleased that the National Registry designation will insulate the North Shore from the development and increased tourism that two-lane bridges would have allowed.
"The one-lane bridges create a sense of friendliness and slowness on the North Shore," she said. "It isn't like Lihue, and we want to keep it that way."