State and county officials celebrated the launch of a private project Tuesday to construct an emergency route out of Waikoloa Village.
The Waikoloa Emergency Egress Route is a planned road that will connect Kamakoa Nui Drive in Waikoloa with Queen Ka‘ahumanu Highway near the 71-mile marker, a roughly 1.3-mile span as the crow flies. The project, funded and constructed by a private landowner, will provide additional security for a growing population in the wake of last year’s major wildfires in West Hawaii and on Maui.
Mayor Mitch Roth, at a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday, said the county began the process of reaching out to owners of the land between the highway and the village after the Mana Road fire in 2021, which burned more than 40,000 acres of state and private land.
“We had to evacuate Waikoloa Village, and that took us about two hours to do,” Roth said.
The owners of the 660-acre parcel through which the bulk of the route will pass agreed not only to allow the use of a portion of their land for the project, but also fund its construction.
One of those owners, Charles Somers, said Tuesday that discussions about a possible road over the years had all concluded that it would be nigh impossible because of the need for state involvement at the intersection with Queen Ka‘ahumanu Highway.
However, state Department of Transportation Director Ed Sniffen said his department is committed to support the necessary improvements at the highway intersection.
“When there’s a community member who can come out and say, ‘Government, we can help with this,’ it’s easier for us to jump in and say, ‘You need that intersection? It’s nothing, it’s absolutely nothing for us,’” Sniffen said.
Kohala Rep. David Tarnas said he has pledged to introduce a proposal for funding at next year’s legislative session, although he added he doesn’t want to get ahead of the project, which still has some bureaucratic hurdles to jump over.
“It’s a positive step forward,” Roger Wehrsig, general manager of the Waikoloa Village Homeowners Association, told the Tribune-Herald on Wednesday. “What we want is still a long ways off, but it’s a good first step. At least it’s moving.”
The emergency egress route is intended to just be an initial phase for a permanent two-lane road connecting the village to the highway, Wehrsig said.
But because the Mana Road and 2023 fires have emphasized the risks of wildfire in the area, the county and state decided that waiting for such a project to be completed would be unwise, hence the construction of a temporary egress route while the greater road is still in development.
Kohala Sen. Tim Richards said even the temporary route is still a ways away, as surveying still needs to be completed before grading can start. He said no concrete estimate for completion has been set, although he expects surveys to wrap up in four to six months.
Once grading is complete, Richards said access to the route will be gated, because the road surface will be unpaved — he compared it to a gravel driveway — and susceptible to damage from overuse. In the event of emergency, officials at several county departments such as Public Works, Planning, or the police and fire departments will be able to open the gates for evacuees.
Wehrsig said there are more than 7,000 residents living in the village, but that number is sure to rise as affordable housing projects progress in the area.
Presently, the only permanent road connecting the village to the highway is Waikoloa Road, although another emergency route exists at the west end of Hulu Street.
Gov. Josh Green on Tuesday praised Somers and the other project partners for speeding the project along in the wake of the Lahaina tragedy.
“We know that these things happen, so we know we can’t just sit back and wait until another fire occurs,” Green said. “And, if I may, things have gotten a little more urgent and serious. The storms are a little more intense, the droughts are a little more disturbing and distressing, and I think that, because of what has happened to our planet, puts us in a perilous situation.”
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.