Hana Highway bridge project to preserve historic character
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Six of the 59 bridges on Hana Highway are scheduled for some construction and improvements with highway officials looking at rehabilitation and replacement alternatives.
Hawaii will receive $24 million in federal funding to rehabilitate and replace the six aging bridges, U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz said.
"This funding will help modernize our aging infrastructure and help people in East Maui get to where they need to go," Schatz said.
Of the 59 bridges, 46 are one-lane bridges in a region on the eastern slope of Haleakala, where there are many endangered species including plants and birds.
Designated as the Hana Millennium Legacy Trail by the White House in 2000, Hana Highway has received a level of importance nationally and continues to be a major visitor attraction with thousands traveling to and from East Maui daily.
There are numerous stops along the way, including the Kaulanapueo Church in Huelo built in 1853 from cut and hauled coral stone, the largest Hawaiian temple in the state Piilanihale Heiau in Nahiku, an old sugar plantation and mill in Hana and the final resting place of renowned aviator Charles A. Lindbergh at the historic Palapala Ho'omau Church in Kipahulu.
With hundreds of curves on Hana Highway featuring cliffside ocean views, the speed limit is mostly set at 10 to 35 mph.
The planned improvements to the six bridges are a product of a formal partnership in 2013 between the Federal Highway Administration and the state Department of Transportation looking at various alternatives, including rehabilitation, rehabilitation and a hybrid bridge-by-bridge solution.
They include bridges over streams at Kailua, Makanali, Puohokamoa, Kopiliula, Ulaino and Mokulehua.
The proposed action has key design features including maintaining single-lane bridges, not allowing larger commercial vehicles than currently used on the roadway, and retaining existing bridge foundations and substructures to the maximum extent practicable.
The design features, described in the final environmental assessment for the project, also call for maintaining the natural and cultural character of the bridges and surrounding Hana Highway.
At five bridges -- Kailua, Makanali, Puohokamoa, Ulaino and Mokulehua -- the existing superstructures would be replaced while foundations, abutments and other substructures would be retained to the extent possible.
The environmental assessment called for the new bridge decks to closely match the shape and materials of the existing bridge decks.
For example, the improvements call for the Kailua Stream Bridge to continue to have a design with concrete tee girders and overhangs.
New pile-supported abutments for the bridge would be installed behind the existing abutments and buried or concealed so that the visual look and character of the roadway is maintained, state highway officials said.
At Kopiliula, the entire bridge would be preserved in place, and a new bridge constructed makai of the existing bridge.
The final environmental assessment said the scale and design of the new bridge at Kopiliula would be compatible with the existing bridge.
Besides maintaining a rural appearance, highway officials also looked at the structural condition of the bridges and their capacity to carry loads, including a fuel truck.
Construction is tentatively scheduled to begin in the summer of 2027 and take about three years to complete. Highway officials said it is possible that up to two bridges may be under construction at one time.
Hana residents have expressed strong feelings about preserving the design of bridges, including keeping them to a single lane.
The bridges not only serve as a platform for views of the mountains and ocean, but also slow traffic.
For a time in the late 1990s, the federal government was unwilling to fund 80% of Hana Highway improvements unless the bridge had two lanes. But eventually, federal highway officials made adjustments in their approach.
"It's great to see they're continuing to make adjustments," said David Goode, a former county Public Works director who worked to preserve one-lane bridges under the county in the early 2000s.
Officials plan to install temporary bridges for traffic along with traffic signals while building the permanent bridges.