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Email: "Highway finally open to cheers, honks, smoothly flowing traffic"
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PUUNENE — Drivers honked their horns, state leaders cheered and traffic moved smoothly as the state Department of Transportation opened the final phases of the Mokulele Highway widening project Tuesday.

Both sides of the new four-lane highway opened to vehicles on Tuesday afternoon following a dedication ceremony to celebrate completion of the final two phases of an $87 million highway widening project. The work involved widening and realigning 6.5 miles of highway from Puunene Avenue in Kahului to Piilani Highway in Kihei.

A bike and pedestrian path along with native plant landscaping complement the new highway.

“This is going to make life better on Maui for all of us,” said Kihei resident Marilyn Colvin, who was a spectator at the blessing.

Colvin said she has driven the highway for six years and appreciated the improvement, especially since she commutes to different schools around the island for work.

State officials agreed.

“The benefits of this project will enhance the overall quality of life for our Maui communities,” said state Transportation Director Brennon Morioka. “Travel times and traffic congestion will be reduced, allowing motorists to spend less time on the road and more time at home with their families.”

Morioka, Gov. Linda Lingle, Maui legislators, county officials, construction company officials, students and drivers made up a crowd of more than 150 at the blessing held in the Maui Humane Society parking lot — on one end of one newly opened highway section.

While the state announced that only one Kahului-bound lane would remain open on Tuesday, cars were running on both of the Kahului-bound lanes. Morioka said the two lanes that had been serving all traffic until Tuesday will need to be restriped — which will mean closing off the previously completed roadway. The work would be completed at the earliest in one week.

Also on Tuesday, new traffic signals were put in use where Mokulele Highway swings into Piilani Highway, with a new intersection for North Kihei Road.

Goodfellow Bros. employees were monitoring the flow of traffic and the signals shortly after the project was unveiled. Goodfellow completed the fifth phase of the widening project that included a massive drainage culvert for Waiakoa Gulch at the Mokulele-Piilani connection.

The company also completed the first and third phases while Hawaiian Dredging Construction Co. and Diversified Machinery Inc. completed the second and fourth phases respectively. The project took six years to complete.

“It’s wonderful to see the community get the benefit of the widening of the road,” said Stephen Goodfellow, president of Goodfellow Bros.

He said the project involved teamwork among the state, county and private sector.

“Everyone really collaborated and worked together,” he said.

Goodfellow, who rode with Lingle in the first car to drive over the newly opened third phase, said he was pleased to see the traffic moving smoothly.

Lingle said the project represents her administration’s commitment to investing in upgrading and maintaining state highways and long-term public infrastructure projects state-wide. She also credited Maui legislators who pushed for the project for decades.

Rep. Joe Souki said initial funding was provided by the Legislature in the late ’90s, when he was speaker of the House. The highway is 80 percent funded through the federal Highways Administration, but the state needed to put up its 20 percent to get the federal dollars released.

As House Transportation Committee chairman, Souki said he has personal reasons for wanting to get the highway widened — his daughter has been driving from Central Maui to Wailea for work and he was concerned about safety on the old, narrow two-lane highway.

The new highway is elevated with massive new drainage structures that will prevent the highway from being flooded. The higher elevation includes the paved bike and pedestrian path and rest areas, parallel to but separated from the main roadway.

The state had worked with the Maui community to design the parallel bikeway running the full length of Mokulele.

“We love it,” said avid bicyclist Walter Enomoto, who attended the blessing.

Enomoto, head of Maui Bicycle Alliance, said he has seen senior citizens, children and families all using the pathway.

“That’s kind of what it is designed for,” he said.

Enomoto said he’s hoping that the state and community collaboration for the Mokulele bikeway will encourage construction of more bicycle and pedestrian paths such as the North Shore Greenway and Kihei Greenway.

“This timing is perfect with the rise in gas prices,” he said.

It also comes when there is a focus on fitness, he said.

Tim Kramer, an avid bicyclist from Kihei, said he didn’t like riding on the old Mokulele Highway, which had only a narrow paved shoulder. With the separate path, he said he rides along Mokulele Highway more frequently, but the new path has had deficiencies while the highway construction was under way.

“It always seems like a maintenance road,” he said.

There is also a problem with sprinklers for the new landscaping wetting down the bikeway pavement and a continuing conflict with people riding motorized scooters on the path, Kramer said.

Enomoto said there are signs barring motorized vehicles.

Morioka said the issue with the scooters should work itself out, but if it doesn’t the state will work with police on the matter.

South Maui Rep. Joe Bertram III — a longtime advocate for bicycle paths, greenways and walkable communities — expressed mixed feelings. He was pleased with the bike path and the use of native plants in the highway landscaping, not so pleased with the millions spent on expanding roadways.

“I hope this is the last four-lane road built on Maui. We don’t need any more four-lane highways,” he said.

• Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.

 

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