"West side highway work to be sped up" (County in Brief, June 13) referred to emergency state funds to work on damaged portions of Honoapiilani Highway, which was damaged by rain and heavy surf.
It will rain again tomorrow. The winter storms will always come. We are an island community in the middle of the Pacific, and nature's elements will always bless us and batter us. The low-lying lands, the winds and the surf were always there, yes even before we built our asphalt road. Scientific evidence today reveals global warming, acidification of oceans and sea level rises are already occurring. Erosion of Maui's shorelines are clearly evident in some areas. But this has not suddenly happened overnight. The damaged highway site has been battered repeatedly for decades, and it will continue.
I read a June 3 article, which reported on futile attempts to curb coastal erosions in some California communities. The sea is relentless, and the issue, as reported in the article, is whether or not to stay or flee, whether or not to fight against Mother Nature.
Now that we have spent or are about to spend perhaps millions on temporary highway emergency repairs, won't we seriously think about really moving our highway farther away from our shoreline? If it were entirely up to me, I would rather preserve and protect our beaches and precious shorelines rather than our asphalt roadway.
Henry T. S. Lau
Kula
