Online community meeting on Waiʻale Road Extension to be held Dec. 5

A virtual public meeting to discuss the proposed Waiʻale Road Extension project will be held Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024, from 6 to 7:30 p.m., the County of Maui Department of Public Works announced.

The community is invited to learn more about the proposed extension of Waiʻale Road from East Waikō Road southward to Honoapiʻilani Highway and offer comments during the public meeting, which will be held via Zoom. The Waikapū area project will involve the extension of the roadway, intersection improvements at four intersections, a bridge crossing over Waikapū Stream and other related improvements, such as a shared-use path and installation of underground utilities. 

Registration is required to attend. To register, visit https://rebrand.ly/Waiale-Road-Extension-Project-Public-Meeting-2. Once registered, participants will be sent an email with the link to the Zoom meeting.

A Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Waiʻale Road Extension project was published in the Hawaiʻi Environmental Review Program’s (ERP) Environmental Notice on Nov. 8, 2024. DPW is proposing to extend Waiʻale Road to support regional transportation needs and future land uses in the Waikapū region.

The proposed project is intended to help to improve traffic flow and safety by:

• Improving safety and mobility for non-motorized users, such as bicyclists and pedestrians, by including shoulder bikeways, pedestrian sidewalks and a shared-use path.
• Providing transportation redundancy with an alternate route in and around the urban areas of Kahului and Wailuku, as well as connections to South and West Maui, which would further assist in enhancing safety and emergency response.
• Reducing traffic-related impacts, such as work commute times and localized air/noise pollution for neighboring properties.
• Improving local access to areas planned for affordable housing.
• Providing infrastructure to facilitate regional critical utility service to planned neighboring residential, commercial and industrial users.

For anyone unable to attend, the meeting will be recorded and posted on the County DPW website in the future. If special accommodations are requested, call 808-270-7745. 

Because the proposed project will receive federal funds and will utilize State of Hawaiʻi lands and County of Maui lands and funds, the EA was prepared as a joint Hawaiʻi Environmental Policy Act and National Environmental Policy Act document.  Additionally, as a federal-aid project, consistency reviews related to the National Historic Preservation Act and the Endangered Species Act are being undertaken. 

Links to the Waiʻale Road Extension Draft EA are as follows:

• Volume I of Draft EA: https://files.hawaii.gov/dbedt/erp/Doc_Library/2024-11-08-MA-DEA-Waiale-Road-Extension-Project-Vol-I-of-II.pdf
• Volume II of Draft EA: https://files.hawaii.gov/dbedt/erp/Doc_Library/2024-11-08-MA-DEA-Waiale-Road-Extension-Project-Vol-II-of-II.pdf

A hard copy of the Draft EA documents is available for review at the Wailuku Public Library.

The deadline for receipt of comments on the Draft EA is Dec. 9, 2024. Comments may be emailed to Waialeroad@munekiyohiraga.com.