New Traffic Signal at Kulanihakoi Street and Pi’ilani Highway possible next month

Temporary fix to facilitate construction of new school

5/18/2018 #kihei
This morning at 9:30 AM several KCA directors assembled at our office to meet Robin Shishido, the new District Engineer for the the State Department of Transportation (DOT) for Maui County. He had reached out to us earlier this month suggesting we meet to discuss some state transportation issues in our region, and this is the most immediate one. We mentioned that the LUC has an imposed condition on the project for a pedestrian over or underpass at the location. Construction is to start in late summer or early fall.

Then we discussed a number of State DOT issues in our region:

• Pluses and minuses of rumble strips along shoulder and center of state roads
• Plans to improve Pi’ilani Highway from North Kihei Road to Wailea Iki for safety with new signs, striping, and guard rails
• State plan to update sensors of ALL Maui Traffic signals on State roads this year (to allow smarter switching based on actual traffic, and to allow remote monitoring); the County is upgrading some of its sensors as well, but not currently in South Maui
• With limits in funds, the State has decided to focus on safety and maintenance of roads, shelving plans to complete the Lahaina bypass and start the Paia bypass; however, bill HB2601 designates a rental vehicle surcharge for non-Hawaii drivers to fund transportation needs of each island, including those two bypasses and protection of the threatened South segment of Pi’ilani Highway
• Affect of land use decisions on island transportation (where Robin agreed that transportation is lagging far behind land use decisions leading to major development)
• The Kihei Upcountry Highway – no longer under consideration
• The Pi’ilani mauka bypass roadway proposal – not on DOT radar
• Widening of Pi’ilani from Kilohana to Wailea; that had final EA filed in May 2012 – not on DOT radar
• Reducing costs of maintenance by e.g. filling cracks and resealing where possible instead of always removing two inches of asphalt and then putting two inches back.

We appreciate Robin’s attitude and approach and look forward to continuing communication. He offered to meet with KCA on a regular basis.

Temporary Traffic Signal; Light proposed by HDOT to facilitate construction for new school