LAHAINA - State Department of Transportation Director Brennon Morioka said he is well aware of the daily headaches that drivers face while stuck in traffic and waiting at lights as they approach Lahaina on Honoapiilani Highway. He's been mired in it himself, he said.

That's why state officials joined Maui community members Friday to celebrate the long-awaited groundbreaking for the Honoapiilani Highway widening project in Lahaina.

The state gave Goodfellow Brothers Construction Co. an $18.5 million contract - 80 percent of which came from the U.S. Highway Administration - to widen one mile of the highway between Lahainaluna and Aholo roads from two lanes to four, along with a full host of other amenities. Actual construction began late last month and is expected to be completed by the end of 2010.

"Today, we have all these bottleneck issues because we don't have enough capacity on the highway before town, where there's just a slew of traffic lights," Morioka said.

Morioka and Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona Jr. said that the Honoapiilani Highway project, combined with the Lahaina bypass mauka the highway, will lessen congestion and improve safety in the area.

State officials said that widening Honoapiilani Highway is imperative because it is the "gateway" into Lahaina town. Almost 26,000 vehicles a day travel that stretch of asphalt, which is the only major route to all of West Maui.

The Honoapiilani Highway widening is a separate project from the Lahaina bypass, which state-hired contractors began working on in December after four decades of heated discussion both for and against it.

The bypass will provide an alternative route around the often jammed-up intersection of Honoapiilani Highway and Lahainaluna Road, which is a dead-end road with three schools on it.

Morioka said the state has funding in place now for the project's first two phases, which total roughly three miles of what will ultimately be at least a nine-mile bypass from Honokowai to Launiupoko. Just those first few miles will translate into about $100 million in construction money infused into the local economy in the next few years, he said - and with a lot more likely to come.

At the same time, he said the DOT is developing an environmental impact statement, due in mid-2010, that will help determine whether to extend the bypass on a route parallel to Honoapiilani Highway and over the pali separating West and Central Maui, or to widen the highway through the pali, including the tunnel, to four lanes.

Lawmakers and residents alike for years have complained that the narrow highway would be a useless logjam if there were ever a natural disaster on the west side, such as a tsunami or earthquake. There's also concern that encroaching erosion near Ukumehame will disintegrate the highway if it isn't moved inland soon.

The current Honoapiilani Highway widening project now under way is extensive and involves building landscaped medians, pedestrian and bicycle lanes as well as improving the traffic signal where the highway meets Shaw Street in Lahaina.

The project plans also call for constructing natural-looking, rocklike noise barriers on both sides of the highway to help block out the sounds of traffic. The project will also have broad, paved shoulders on both sides.

The highway's makai side will receive a new sidewalk, and the state promised that pedestrians will have an easier time crossing the highway at the Shaw Street intersection due to the planned improvements.

State Highways Division Deputy Director Jiro Sumada said this project will ultimately improve the quality of life for West Maui residents and provide better access for others.

Aiona, who is running for governor in 2010, took some of the credit for the project finally coming to fruition.

"The Lingle-Aiona administration is moving forward to improve safety on our highways and ease traffic congestion, which saves our motorists time and money," he said in a prepared statement.

* Chris Hamilton can be reached at chamilton@mauinews.com.