Temporary Work Stoppage at Maui Airport Rent-A-Car Project
Construction site of planned Maui CONRAC facility. File image 2016.
A work stoppage occurred on Wednesday at the Kahului Airport’s Consolidated Rent-A-Car Facility, currently under construction.
Department of Transportation spokesperson Tim Sakahara said the project was temporarily halted yesterday “due to an internal issue with the general contractor, which is being addressed.”
Sakahara said airport operations were not impacted as a result, and he anticipated a resumption of work today.
“HDOT is working to have a world class rental car facility that the community and traveling public will benefit from,” said Sakahara in an email communication to Maui Now.
Rental Car Facility and Access Road Water Feature. Project renderings (DOT) of the Kahului Airport Consolidated Rent-A-Car facility. Photo by Wendy Osher. (4.15.16)
Construction on the $340 million Consolidated Rent-A-Car or “CONRAC” facility broke ground in April of 2016.
The facility will house more than a dozen rental car companies in one location, essentially moving the current operation which is separate from the main terminal, to one that is much closer near the old cell phone parking lot off of Hemaloa Street.
Transportation officials say the new facility will help to relieve congestion around the airport by eliminating the need for 25 shuttle buses that make an average of 85 trips an hour to the terminal. The electric tram will be built on a rail system that is designed to provide quick and efficient transport between the terminal and rental car counters.
Kahului Airport is home to more than a dozen airlines that serve an average of nearly 8,000 passengers per day. Transportation officials note that Kahului Airport rents the most cars of all the airports in the state with an average of 2,200 cars rented every day. That’s more than twice the amount at Honolulu.
The facility itself will be a three level structure encompassing rental car offices, customers service counters, ready and return rental car spaces, and “Quick-Turn-Around” areas with fuel and car wash facilities to service rental car fleets.
Outside, there will be nearly 3,800 parking stalls dedicated to the rental car companies plus another 700 dedicated to employee parking for a total of nearly 4,500 parking stalls.
Access to the facility is planned through a new access road that will extend from the Hāna Highway to the Airport Loop Road.
When the project broke ground last year, transportation officials had projected completion in approximately three-and-a-half years. The project is also expected to employ more than 200 people on the site, with a total industry employment of more than 500 jobs. The lead contractor is Hawaiian Dredging Construction Company and the design team is led by Demattei Wong Architects.
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