#Lahaina Bypass

The conversation focused on coordinating several major projects now planned or underway including: Honoapiʻilani Highway coastal realignment; Lahaina Bypass Phase 1C; Keawe Street safety and multimodal improvements; Lower Honoapiʻilani Road improvements; and the West Maui Greenway.

While usually held the first Wednesday of each month, the Lahaina Community Meeting for August was moved to the following week out of respect for the three-year mark of the Aug. 8, 2023, Maui wildfires.

The state project to build a 4.5-mile northern extension of the bypass had stalled for decades due to a lack of funding, but that changed with Maui County committing $100 million in Lahaina disaster relief funds earlier this year to help build the road that now has a price tag of $220 to $250 million.

The Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation is starting preliminary environmental studies for a northern portion of the Lahaina Bypass. The proposed Lahaina Bypass Phase 1C will extend the existing Lahaina Bypass northward, spanning 4.5 miles between Keawe Street and Puʻukoliʻi Road. The bypass currently runs from the south, from an area called “Cut Mountain,” to Keawe Street.

HDOT’s wildfire efforts are heavily focused on vegetation management based on priorities received from county fire departments and creation/maintenance of evacuation routes in vulnerable communities.

The state Department of Transportation has started preliminary environmental studies for a northern portion of the Lahaina Bypass. The proposed Lahaina Bypass Phase 1C spans approximately 3 miles from Keawe Street to Kakaʻalaneo Drive.  

While Maui County braces for more severe weather, council members are poised to take action Friday morning on a $15 million request for emergency funding, following a Wednesday committee update on the effort to rebuild from the August 2023 Lahaina wildfire disaster.

The County of Maui Office of Recovery’s Hoʻokumu Hou program announced major investments in the long-term recovery from the 2023 Maui wildfires with the selection of seven multifamily rental housing projects and 22 infrastructure and mitigation improvement projects that have been conditionally awarded Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funding.

The Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation is notifying the public that adjustments will be made to traffic patterns in West Maui as the public safety power shut off by Hawaiian Electric continues.

Mayor Richard Bissen told state lawmakers Monday that his administration has shifted its focus from immediate wildfire recovery to housing delivery and large-scale infrastructure investments, forecasting the construction of approximately 3,000 affordable and workforce homes by 2030.

The Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation is advising highway users to prepare for potential traffic delays on Sunday, Jan. 18, as the Maui Oceanfront Marathon will proceed from the Shops at Wailea to Launiupoko Beach Park.

Maui residents are invited to review and provide feedback on landscape design proposals for the Ukumehame and Olowalu coastal corridor, as three upcoming meetings look to conclude nearly a year of community input on the project.

The grand opening and blessing of Kaiāulu o Kūku‘ia Thursday morning marked an emotional milestone in West Maui’s recovery, becoming the first newly built, permanent multifamily affordable housing project to open for local families since the August 2023 wildfires. The complex includes Hawai‘i’s first Bezos Academy preschool.

A roadway alignment for a six-mile segment of Honoapiʻilani Highway at risk of eroding into the ocean has been determined in a final environmental impact statement issued this month by the Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation, in coordination with the Federal Highway Administration.

The final factor in the traffic equation appears to be the trucks hauling Lahaina wildfire debris from the temporary disposal site in Olowalu to the permanent site at the Central Maui Landfill — up to 50 of them, according to the mauirecovers.org dashboard. The trucks are identified by “Lahaina Wildfire Debris” decals and are “making multiple round trips daily.”

The Hawai‘i Department of Transportation notifies highway users of lane shifts on the Lahaina Bypass due to road striping and pavement marker installation work between Kai Hele Kū Street and Hōkiokio Place.

The $160 million project is part of a yearslong effort to move Honoapi’ilani Highway away from the shoreline and improve access to and from West Maui.

A revenue bond with repayment funded by a rental car surcharge is being proposed as a source of funding for building the northern portion of the Lahaina Bypass.

About a 6-mile segment of Honoapi‘ilani Highway from Ukumehame to Launiupoko would be moved mauka, beyond the reach of rising sea levels, to protect a vital roadway to West Maui. Even now, portions of the highway from Pāpalaua Wayside Park to the Lahaina Bypass are a mere stone’s throw away from the ocean.

Maui traffic delays can be expected from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. the next day on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 16-17, according to the Hawai‘i Department of Transportation. Trucks will be hauling temporary modular homes for wildfire survivors from a baseyard on Hansen Road to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Kilohana temporary housing site in Lahaina.