Associated Press By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER ADVERTISING Associated Press HONOLULU — A bridge that collapsed during recent heavy rains has cut off a vehicular lifeline for about 40 residents of a rural East Maui community. The Hanawana Bridge is more
By JENNIFER SINCO
KELLEHER
Associated Press
HONOLULU — A bridge that collapsed during recent heavy rains has cut off a vehicular lifeline for about 40 residents of a rural East Maui community.
The Hanawana Bridge is more than 100 years old and was built by hand for horse and buggies. It gave way on March 9, preventing residents of the small remote community between Haiku and Hana from driving across.
“The rains we had that weekend were especially torrential,” state Sen. J. Kalani English, who represents the area, said Wednesday. With the weight of the trees and roots on top and the saturated ground, it gave way, he said.
What’s left of the land bridge is safe to walk across, so residents have coordinated a system for commuting.
When the collapse happened, there were vehicles on both sides. So now residents can walk or drive from their homes to one end of the bridge, walk across and then get rides from cars on the other side, English, D-East Maui-Lanai-Molokai, explained. Residents have also worked out a plan for where an ambulance could park during an emergency.
“We’re really proud of them that they came together and organized themselves,” English said.
But it could be several weeks before the bridge is repaired, at an estimated cost of $250,000. The land is owned by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, but it’s an old government road, so it’s not clear if the state or county is responsible.
“It’s considered a road in limbo,” English said. “Because it’s a road in limbo, no one claims ownership.”
Maui county officials stepped in to apply for an emergency waiver to bypass regulations to move forward with emergency repairs, English said.
On Tuesday, county Public Works will begin cutting through dense brush to figure out how to replace or repair the bridge, county spokesman Rod Antone said. He said it’s not clear how long work will take.
“These people are in need,” Antone said of the importance of helping residents get to work and school.
“This is the harbinger of things to come if we don’t take action,” English said of aging bridges connecting many small, isolated communities along the coast. English, chair of the Senate committee on transportation and international affairs, drives over more than 60 bridges to get to his Hana home and 42 are deemed structurally unsound.
He warned that if one of the bridges went down along Hana Highway, a winding and scenic route popular among tourists, it would hurt the economy and leave the entire east side of the island stranded. But it shouldn’t come to that to spur action.
“Forty people stranded is 40 people too many,” he said.
