LIHUE — Ehiku Street resident John Barklow is worried about the idea of his road becoming the route for landfill vehicles to travel between the proposed new landfill site and Kuhio Highway. “I live on that road and I’m concerned
LIHUE — Ehiku Street resident John Barklow is worried about the idea of his road becoming the route for landfill vehicles to travel between the proposed new landfill site and Kuhio Highway.
“I live on that road and I’m concerned my property values would be cut in half,” Barklow said.
The proposed route follows Ehiku Street from its Kuhio Highway intersection to the junction at Maalo Road, passing the Isenberg Subdivision.
Traffic impacts, particularly related to children and community activities in the area, are other concerns Barklow has about the route.
“There’s a park there with kids walking around and wanting to cross the road. There’s also a church right there that has things going on in the afternoon,” he said.
The Ehiku Street route is one of five options that were presented at a Thursday evening public meeting on the access routes. It is the longest and most expensive of the proposed routes, with a cost coming in at around $43.3 million.
The second most expensive route is estimated at $42.9 million and follows Maalo Road from its Kuhio Highway junction for 1.8 miles before using an existing cane haul road to the proposed site.
The last three proposed routes all cost less than half of the first two proposed routes, and are variations on the same concept.
The Laulima Street route, with a cost of $12.8 million, follows Laulima Street from the Kuhio Highway junction to a cane haul road, cutting behind Hanamaulu’s Laukona Street before continuing to the site.
The Roberts Hawaii Driveway route, with a cost of $14.6 million, begins at the driveway at the Roberts Hawaii depot on Kuhio Highway and follows an existing cane haul road to the proposed site.
The Kauai Beach Drive access route would begin at the intersection of Kauai Beach Drive and Kuhio Highway and run along an existing cane haul road to Roberts Hawaii Driveway, where it would link up with the rest of the Roberts Hawaii Driveway route.
That route would require the modification of the intersection and installation of a traffic signal synchronized with the one at the Kupule Highway intersection.
The Kauai Beach Drive access route is the favorite choice for Laurie Kelekoma. She grew up on Laulima Street and said the community there has grown accustomed to the quiet neighborhood, which would be disrupted if a landfill route were added.
“The Kauai Beach Drive route, for me, I think that’s the best option for our community,” Kelekoma said. “It would improve the intersection at that place.”
The routes are the result of the Revised Draft Traffic and Roadways Engineering Feasibility Study. More in-depth details on each route are available in the Revised Draft TREFS report, available at www.kauai.gov/NewLandfillSite.
Comments and feedback on the five proposed routes are being accepted until Oct. 17. Input on the routes can be emailed to kauailandfillaccessroute@aecom.com or mailed to AECOM, Attn: Kauai New Landfill/RRP Access Roads, 1001 Bishop St., Suite 1600, Honolulu, HI 96813.
