Access to Waipi‘o Valley Road has been restricted since 2022 for work to make the steep, narrow and winding county road less dangerous.
Almost three years later, Department of Public Works spokeswoman Sherise Kana‘e-Kane said the project remains “in its preliminary design stages.”
“Gathering geological and topographic information has seen unexpected difficulties due to the terrain and unpredictable weather conditions,” Kana‘e-Kane said Thursday in an email. “We are currently exploring alternative methods for gathering this information.”
Mayor Kimo Alameda on Monday signed the 15th Waipi‘o Valley Road Declaration of Emergency and related emergency rules due to ongoing safety concerns. The current declaration is in effect through March 6, the county said in a press release.
Alameda’s predecessor, former mayor Mitch Roth, declared Waipi‘o Valley Road an emergency on Feb. 25, 2022. The emergency rule closed the treacherous and poorly maintained road to all except valley residents after a geotechnical evaluation by the engineering firm Hart Crowser found an elevated risk of rockfalls.
The rule was relaxed in September that year — after a lawsuit by a community group — to permit Big Island residents and some commercial tour operators to travel the road with four-wheel-drive vehicles.
Pedestrians, horseback riders and uncovered vehicles, including but not limited to all-terrain vehicles, are still prohibited on the 1.4 mile road, which is the only way in and out of Waipi‘o Valley
Phase 1 of three phases of proposed work on the road was completed before the July 4 holiday in 2023. The first phase, which took less than six weeks, primarily focused on removing hazards along the uppermost 750 feet of the cliff face over the road, such as trees, vegetation and “scallops” — parts of the cliff face that have been undermined to the point that rocks distinctly protrude.
According to Kana‘e-Kane, “Additional construction has not yet started.”
According to plans drafted by Honolulu geotechnical firm Haley and Aldrich in 2022, Phase 2 would do the same work for the next 1,300 feet of cliff face, but would be divided into four sub-phases, each focusing on different sections of the cliff.
It will also install metal meshes along the cliff in order to contain rockfalls.
Phase 3 will install more rockfall fencing higher up the slope. Both Phase 2 and 3 will require daily closures of the road.
Kana‘e-Kane told the Tribune-Herald in 2023 the second phase of the project could take several different shapes, each of which would require different schedules and costs.
“If we just do the hazard mitigation, that’s one thing and it’ll be done in a certain amount of time,” Kana‘e-Kane said at that time. “But if we add drainage work to Phase 2, or if we extend the road, then that’s going to extend the timeframe too.”
An early estimate put the overall cost of the project at $6 million, but Kana‘e-Kane said Thursday the cost will likely be higher.
“With the design effort in its preliminary stages, we do not have a revised cost estimate available,” she said.
According to Kana‘e-Kane, the county’s first priority with the project will be “to revisit the hazard condition study with the intent of either confirming or hopefully reducing the current access restrictions.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
