The 91直播 Department of Transportation is reviving plans to extend the Daniel K. Inouye Highway in the South Kohala district from its current ending at Mamalahoa Highway (Route 190) westward to Queen Ka‘ahumanu Highway (Route 19).
According to the DOT, it is working with the Federal Highway Administration to seek federal funds for the project. The Army’s Pohakuloa Training Area is along DKI Highway, and the feds provided the majority of the funding for the east-west highway over the Big Island’s “Saddle” area.
The final piece of the DKI Highway would be about 10.5 miles.
A 2017 draft environmental impact statement included detailed analysis of three proposed alternative routes, all of which would run south of Waikoloa Road. At that time, the project’s estimated price tag was $80 million, but a final EIS wasn’t performed, and the project was shelved in fall 2020 after state funding sources dried up and the extension effort wasn’t awarded a federal grant.
The state had hoped to draw money from the rental car surcharge fund for the project, but without tourism during the novel coronavirus pandemic, the account didn’t have the revenue.
DOT spokeswoman Shelly Kunishige said that as of last year, an updated estimate for the project’s cost is $150 million. She said the department is “working with the U.S. Army” to secure funding from the Department of Defense.
“A couple of years ago, we were able to get sufficient money to finish the environmental impact statement that had been started but never completed for the Saddle Road extension,” said state Rep. David Tarnas, a Kohala Democrat, referring to $3 million appropriated by the Legislature in 2024. “DOT has initiated the process with the consultant to use the work that was previously done on that EIS and finish it — with the goal that once we complete the EIS, then the project would qualify to be placed on the list of defense access roads. That would then qualify it for federal funding through the Department of Defense.
“The U.S. Army Garrison 91直播 leadership has strongly supported the efforts we have initiated to finish the EIS. And we’ve secured from them … that they would advocate for us to get Department of Defense funding through Congress so we would have the federal government pay for most of the extension.”
Tarnas praised state DOT Director Ed Sniffen for his revival of the project and his efforts to secure Army backing.
The proposed highway extension is on the agenda for an upcoming informational open house hosted by the DOT between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Wednesday, May 20, at the Waikoloa Elementary and Middle School Cafeteria.
“The community will have an opportunity to weigh in,” said County Council member James Hustace, who represents Kohala. “It’s a critical project, and it’s been in discussion for a long time. I previously sat on the South Kohala Traffic Safety Committee as its chair for seven years, and it was a conversation that kept coming up. We did see that first draft (EIS) go through, and then they kind of put a pin in it until this point.
“It’s great to see that there’s energy behind it to bring this project back online and to help connect east and west a little bit more efficiently in terms of services, in terms of commuters, in providing that resource to the community.”
Tarnas said Waikoloa residents are “quite eager” for the DKI Highway extension to come to fruition.
“Everyone in Waikoloa Village experiences the deterioration of the existing Waikoloa Road by all the heavy trucks that use the road, some of which are U.S. Army trucks, and some of which are commercial trucks,” Tarnas said. “So there’s a real interest in Waikoloa Village to get this thing built.”
The 2017 draft EIS pegged DKI Highway traffic volume at about 3,000 vehicles a day, and estimated that by 2035, more than 19,400 vehicles will travel daily on the highway. DOT traffic models from 2024 estimated that daily number had more than doubled to more than 6,100 daily between the Mamalahoa Highway to PTA.
A timeline published by DOT estimates that if events go as hoped, environmental evaluation should be completed by 2028, with design and right-of-way work taking place from 2028 to 2035 and construction from 2031 to 2035.
Updates about the project will be available at website at danielkinouyehwyextension.com.
Email John Burnett at john.burnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
