Paia Bypass Plan Taking Shape

PAIA - Construction on a permanent bypass around Paia town could begin in five years, under a plan by the state Department of Transportation.

After more than a year of meetings with a community working group, the state has identified 15 possible alternatives for a Paia relief route and plans to narrow those down to three options for study in an environmental impact statement.

Department spokeswoman Tammy Mori said that the state plans to begin land acquisition for the project in 2012 and start construction by 2015, although she said the timeline could be shortened significantly if the environmental review proceeds smoothly.

The state will hold a scoping meeting on the project Wednesday at the Paia Community Center, with doors opening at 5:30 p.m. for the public to preview displays, and a formal presentation to begin at 6 p.m.

Mori said the project is intended to serve as a relief road between Kahului and Maliko Gulch that would reduce travel times, improve safety and serve several modes of transportation, not just cars.

"As much as possible, we would like this road to maintain the rural character of the travel experience and community, minimize disturbance of agricultural resources and operations, and avoid disruption of Paia's historic district and businesses," Mori said in an e-mail.

A range of access points for the bypass route are being considered.

From the Kahului side, proposed terminuses include Kala Road and points both mauka and makai of the road; off Hana Highway opposite the Maui Country Club golf course; and off Haleakala Highway at Firebreak Road.

On the Haiku side of the bypass, proposed terminuses include Holomua Road, points in the vicinity of Hookipa Beach Park, and points just before Maliko Gulch.

According to an environmental impact preparation notice published last month by the state Office of Environmental Quality Control, safety issues are a major reason for the project.

Sections of the highway through Paia have relatively high accident rates, according to the report. The segment of highway between milepost 7.1 and 7.3 had the second-highest nonintersection accident rate in Maui County between 2004 and 2006.

Traffic volumes also pose a safety hazard to pedestrians crossing the street in Paia and elsewhere along Hana Highway, the report noted.

Beyond Paia town, the spectacle of Hookipa Beach Park and a high number of visitor drivers bring "an element of less-focused traffic," it added.

"By shifting through traffic away from high-volume areas of congestion, the traffic that will remain in the existing corridor will be more focused on local access and destinations within Paia, and provide a safer environment for pedestrians and visitors," the report says.

Also, drivers through the area continue to experience excessive delays, and traffic studies have found "extreme congestion" at the Baldwin Avenue intersection during peak hours, it says.

While the Paia minibypass, which was opened at the Kahului entrance to the town in 2006, has alleviated traffic, the community has stressed that a permanent bypass is still necessary, Mori said.

"The current Paia minibypass is a temporary solution that can only be utilized during peak hours of the day," she said.

Gregory Brown, owner of the Wine Corner in Paia, agreed that the minibypass had only taken a small bite out of the town's traffic problem.

"It's a Band-Aid on a big sore," he said. "If they had just gone ahead and put the bypass in, it would have been a done deal."

While some merchants may be concerned that the relief route could hurt business in town by diverting drivers around Paia, Brown supported the idea and said it was overdue.

He was more concerned about landowner A&B's plans for development in the area.

If A&B received development rights in exchange for its cooperation on the bypass, that's what could hurt nearby Paia and its small businesses, he said.

"We don't want to compromise the small town," he said. "You permit them to build their little township, then their little strip mall - you've really got to watch what you do with these corporations."

Nancy Fritzen, an employee of the Paia retailer Jaggers, said she felt confident the bypass wouldn't hurt business.

Fritzen said she lived in Haleiwa on Oahu when a relief road was built around the historic North Shore surf town. The Haleiwa bypass ultimately had a positive impact on local businesses, because it eased traffic through town and made it easier for visitors to get there, she said.

"The merchants here, if they have any question of it hurting business, it's only going to help business," she said.

Haiku resident Kai Nishiki, a member of the Paia Relief Route Advisory Group, said the committee studied Haleiwa as an example of how to make a bypass work.

When the Haleiwa bypass was first built, it initially had a negative effect on the town's businesses, she said. But the City & County of Honolulu soon solved the problem with minor changes, such as installing signs to better mark the Haleiwa turnoff, so visitors wouldn't inadvertently miss the town.

"I think that can happen here," Nishiki said. "As long as we're careful in the planning, it will minimize negative impacts to the town and will actually help them."

Answering Brown's concern, Grant Chun of A&B Properties said that if the company had any plans or desire to develop lands above Paia, it would have proposed the area for inclusion in the Maui Island Plan.

The company was more concerned about potential impacts the road might have on Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. operations, he said.

Garrett Hew of HC&S said the company had participated in meetings on the bypass.

"Whatever route they take is going to impact our plantation, because they have to go through the cane fields," he said.

If the route is too close to the current Hana Highway, it might cut off a portion of the fields that would then be too small to farm and would have to be taken out of production, Hew said.

But taking a route that is too mauka could require crossing more HC&S cane hauling roads and more gulches, he added.

"That would impact the cost of the project itself," he said.

While some people had suggested converting existing plantation roads into a bypass, Hew said that could create a safety issue.

"Once you get on HC&S roads, you're dealing with large, large agricultural equipment 24-7," he said. "I think it's incompatible to have both on the same roadway."

Advisory group member and Paia resident Lance Holter said he hoped to see the bypass provide a quicker route home for residents of Haiku and beyond, while making it easier for visitors and sightseers to reach Paia as a destination.

"We want to keep Hana Highway kind of a scenic route, and the bypass would be an alternate route, one that doesn't take the business away from town," he said.

Ilima Loomis can be reached at iloomis@mauinews.com.

(Report Provided by The Maui News)

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NEWS FLASH - July 4, 2010 6:50 p.m. HST