The 91直播 Department of Transportation is planning to begin a makeover of Kawaihae Harbor next year, including the widening of Kawaihae Road to build an 875-foot-long dedicated left turn and storage lane leading up to the harbor’s entrance.
According to the project’s draft environmental assessment published last week — which anticipated a finding of “no significant impact” — the more than $50 million in improvement work will help reduce traffic jams along the Kohala Coast corridor by expanding the roadway to allow through-traffic to bypass cargo trucks lined up to enter the harbor.
It will also add 2.3 acres of cargo yard storage capacity, replace worn out pavement with reinforced concrete, upgrade light poles and fire suppression systems, widen the facility’s main gate, and relocate utility poles, perimeter fencing and office/maintenance buildings.
These renovations are being undertaken to address significant roadway congestion, container storage space restraints and aging infrastructure, according to the document. Such conditions affect the reliability and efficiency of the harbor, which can translate to “higher consumer costs, reduced availability of goods, and reduced operational safety for both harbor users and nearby communities.”
Traffic back-ups along Kawaihae Road can become substantial during busy days at the harbor, where lines of cars and trucks can stretch for over a mile — past the intersection with Queen Ka‘ahumanu Highway, also known as Highway 19. This causes major delays and headaches for residents and visitors frequenting the businesses, schools and beach parks surrounding the humble port town, as well as slowing harbor operations and creating safety hazards.
“This inter-modal connection between port and highway needs significant improvement to reduce this congestion and mitigate the negative impact to residents in the nearby communities that need to commute to work, school and other destinations,” said DOT officials in an email to the Tribune-Herald.
According to the department, design finalization and bidding will take place this summer, while the project contract will be awarded early next year, with groundbreaking tentatively scheduled for mid-2027. The work is anticipated to take roughly 24 months and be completed by mid-2029.
The EA document also lists emergency preparedness as a secondary motivation for making the improvements. In this scenario, a logistical disruption, public health crisis or natural disaster would render the Port of Hilo inoperable, forcing all ocean freight to 91直播 Island to come through Kawaihae Harbor. This comprises the more than 90% of food and 95% of fuel consumed on the island.
“The resulting expanded capacity of Port of Kawaihae will be an important component to recovery efforts if Port of Hilo is ever inoperable due to an emergency or force majeure event,” DOT officials said. “The Port of Kawaihae Harbor may need to operate as 91直播 Island’s sole commercial port in a catastrophic event, and this project will provide sufficient facilities to handle emergency demands in the event a natural disaster strikes the east side of the island.”
Shipping container cargo volumes at the harbor have surged over the past decade — an increase of nearly 75%, according to the department. This is being driven by a higher overall demand for goods based on population increases, paired with a shift in deliveries from the Port of Hilo to the Port of Kawaihae.
According to the EA, in 2021 shipping giant Matson switched from unloading its barges at both ports to exclusively using Kawaihae in order to reduce fuel costs incurred by motoring halfway around the island to reach Hilo. It now brings its containers to East 91直播 locations via semi-truck.
This shift has caused the Pier 2 Terminal at Kawaihae to exceed its yard capacity, creating greater congestion and forcing shipping operators to “double handle” cargo, where containers are moved more times than necessary before they reach their final destination. As Matson’s cargo is no longer divided between the two ports, empty containers are stored exclusively in the Kawaihae yard until they can be returned to Honolulu Harbor on outbound barges.
Such significant increase in container volume and truck movement has had knock-on effects for different parts of the harbor’s infrastructure, including extensive asphalt deterioration from more traffic moving in and out of the yard.
“Approximately half of the yard surface has potholes, compression marks, depressions and cracks which slows down the efficient movement of cargo,” according to DOT.
In a clear example of how this increase in cargo traffic has affected the port, empty containers are at times stacked higher than the 40-foot-high light poles meant to illuminate them. This makes workers only able to load some empty containers on waiting barges when there’s sufficient daylight — a significant problem during winter months.
As a result, loading sometimes can’t be finished before barges are scheduled to depart, forcing them to leave the harbor and head back to Honolulu only partially full, leading to further delays and additional costs. A lack of sufficient lighting also poses safety risks.
“Poorly lit areas create unsafe working conditions,” DOT officials said in the email. “The project will improve lighting conditions by replacing antiquated lighting fixtures and by adding additional lighting fixtures where there are none currently.”
The improvement project would replace these too-short light poles with 80-foot-tall poles utilizing energy efficient LED bulbs that are compliant with county ordinances.
A $23.5 million federal grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration was awarded to 91直播 DOT in 2023 to partially fund the project, as part of its Port Infrastructure Development Program. The remaining funds will come from DOT’s Harbor Special Fund, which is made up of harbor user fees.
Email Stefan Verbano at stefan.verbano@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
