Above photo, 6 am, today, all tourists finally getting to Haena State Park, ASAP before the quota of 900 people, per the new rules, is hit. (Ha‘ena State Park Master Plan) and the legal limit is 100 vehicles however... that's not 100 parking spots for whoever gets there first... 30 spaces will be set aside for locals while visitors will have to apply online and pay a fee to park in one of the other 70 spots. ( apartheid? Jim Crow? )
The new plan puts a cap of 900 visitors per day after the reconstruction work from Hurricane Lane, the April 2018 disaster that caused the worst flash flood in national recorded history for Kauai. 50 inches of rain fell in 24 hrs. Landslides caused road closures stranding residents north of Hanalei, and the state park has now purposefully limited the amount of available parking on-site, which also must now be reserved in advance online, although shuttle buses will be available to help ease congestion on area roads. ($11 roundtrip from Princeville and Waipa)
Haena State Park and 11-mile Kalakau hiking trail "reservation requirements and fees for the natural attractions. The rules don’t apply to Hawaii residents." https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2019/06/14/after-year-long-closure-breathtaking-kalalau-hiking-trail-will-reopen/
A 2-mile stretch of highway reopened Monday, restoring access to some of the Hawaii's less touristed Garden Isle’s most popular tourist attractions. Not Oahu, that overrun, overcongested, traffic jam of an island... Kauai, the place only the rich can live, and only the richer tourists can visit.
with the highway’s reopening, the state has instituted a series of new regulations aimed at preventing too many tourists at Haena State Park and Kalalau trail head.
Residents say the highway closure helped them see just how bad things had gotten.
When tourism into the area was unregulated, "we saw cars parking on either side of the road, literally anywhere they wanted to. And in some cases, the fire trucks and emergency response vehicles could not even get through the illegally parked cars,” said Chipper Wichman, who runs Limahuli Garden and Preserve and has been helping to organize the community ahead of the highway’s reopening.
https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2019/06/17/north-shore-portion-kuhio-highway-reopen-with-new-rules-visitors-residents/
the emergency road work to recover from Hurricane Lane affected 26 sites, including 17 slope cleanup areas, three stabilization sites, a wall replacement and debris removal.
So, in response, residents from the island’s north shore formed a human chain, stopping tourists from entering the stretch of Kuhio Highway that forms the gateway to Ha‘ena State Park and other popular community natural resources and popular attractions.
Protesters said they let construction workers and residents through the highway but turned away about 50 tourists just after 5 a.m this morning. Kauai police arrived on the scene before 7 a.m. and forced the 20 or so protesters to reopen the road.
Did the police treat the local protestors like BLM? Nope. No arrests for blocking a road, impeding traffic, disorderly conduct, conspiracy to ... etc etc etc. Why? They're not political activists, they're locals.
But that isn't really the problem, road damage isolated that area from all tourists, and the locals REALLY loved the peace and quiet. They moved into the park with RVs, and took up living there. 5 were just evicted by the cops when the road re-opened.
“People have been flying through the bridge,” Schoenfeld said. “It’s not safe, that’s the bottom line. There needs to be signs,” she added.
The limited visibility due to a bend in the road, combined with the narrow width of the bridge near the Hanalei Colony Resort, can be a recipe for disaster, she said.
Schoenfeld sat in a lawn chair holding an “aloha” sign counting the number of vehicles that passed her. By about 9:30 a.m., she had counted 132 cars and trucks she said were carrying visitors; 60 carrying residents, and 24 driven by workers of one kind or another. And one taxi.
“We just want people not to think that this is the North Shore versus them,” she said.
Mahuka’s amiable message urging drivers to go slow was non-confrontational.
“We’re happy to see the road open, but at the same time, we’re worried” about what may happen next as more and more tourists find out that the highway is open again, she said. “I still think we’re not ready” for the road to be fully open, she said, because repair and replacement of three one-lane bridges remains incomplete.
https://www.thegardenisland.com/2019/06/18/hawaii-news/sending-a-message/?TGI=dfcfdeaa032e2041d0e42765b320552148482881
Wainiha resident Gil Nieto, who works and lives in Wainiha, said the convoys over the past year have been a double-edged sword for the community. It’s been a different lifestyle beyond the roadblock and even though residents knew the road was opening, the change is staggering.
In fact, Nieto said he and other residents took their last few days of remote paradise to celebrate at the beach, solidifying the stronger community that they have built.
“It’s been like a gated community,” he said. “We probably can’t ride our bikes down the road anymore like we could before.”
https://www.thegardenisland.com/2019/06/18/hawaii-news/residents-visitors-check-out-the-road-beyond-the-block/?TGI=20932d55cba40e72526047372fa6a87757b14b30
above before the storm damage, below is nearly complete 2 way traffic (seems to be the same bridge from opposite directions)
Wainiha resident Kaiulani Mahuka said “They’ve turned our island into a cheap whore. They reopened for the tourists yesterday. People came speeding in. There wasn’t anyone to direct traffic. People were going by the hundreds to Lumahai Beach — it’s not safe, there’s no lifeguard. People were walking all over the reef and they left their rubbish everywhere.”
Lifeguards? It's the ocean on the island's north shore... you really require lifeguards for the surfers?
He's also pissed that shuttle companies are getting tourists to pay for a ride from much farther away, and no money is coming to the locals at the parks "Yes cuz we want it to go to our aina and our ohana .but now outsiders ..realitors like make shuttle and take the money for them self else where..."
The return of tourism and the reopening of vacation rentals also has displaced residents in the community, she said. “Five people got notices yesterday. Where are they to go? We all work four and five jobs so we can live in our cars"
(ummm, not to tell you how to live, but if you're working 4 jobs, when the hell do you sleep? If you're working 5 jobs, maybe you aren't living where fewer jobs pay enough to live in an apartment, and though I respect your choice to live in paradise, you AIN'T living if you're constantly at work, 4 jobs? Really? That's not resulting in any time to look around and enjoy the place you chose to slave away in)
Protester Ka‘imi Hermosura-Konohiki, who lives in Halele‘a, said the return of tourism to farthest Kauai’s north shore region turned the area into “another Waikiki.” anti-houle attitude much?
(Well, Castro kicked out the Americans, are you thinking you can do the same? If not, get used to tourism, or run for congress, or president, and get things changed the hard way, life every one else, by politicians)
Oh, maybe you're not quite adjusted to life in the USA, but I doubt you've ever lived anywhere else, as the islands have been USA since 1959. Yeah, 60 years ago. And you're younger than that. How do I know?
So, sorry to be a killjoy, but you were born into a time when the good days are all history, and life sucks, where tourism has been a part of your world, your island, since before you were born.
Good luck trying to reverse that, but the tide doesn't reverse for anyone, or anything, and if it's not on tribal lands, you're going to lose the argument with the US Govt. Ask any one ever born near a res.
Here's another quoted protestor, Kaiulani Mahuka, also demonstrably anti immigration, anti tourist, anti govt (well, ok, that last one I like)
the storm damage below had unforeseeable consequences...
to get heavy equipment into the area to remove the landslide, they had to make the 8 ton limit bridges stronger for the heavy equipment to pass by and get to the many affected areas of the road
the existing historic bridges at Waikoko, Waipa and Wai‘oli were rated for eight ton loads and the equipment was 20 tons.
The impacted segment of the highway is listed on the Hawai‘i Register of Historic Places and includes multiple one-lane historic bridges that contribute to the historic district . (? really? Or just limit the amount of tourists very effectively?)
Community members continued to voice concerns and opposition to the plans to demolish the two bridges and demanded HDOT to consider alternative ways to reach Repair Site #2, such as by using temporary bridges or to bring the equipment in by sea.
The MOA (Memorandum of Agreement) assumes the bridges will be replaced. The design parameters for the new bridges requires that they continue to be single-lane, retain the historic alignment and view sheds, include parapet railings similar to the existing bridges and be designed in keeping with the design standards and rural character outlined in the Kūhiō Highway Historic Roadway Corridor Plan.
https://www.staradvertiser.com/2019/06/18/breaking-news/kauai-protestors-block-tourists-from-entering-kuhio-highway-into-haena
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1117598461757017&id=100005206218424
https://hidot.hawaii.gov/highways/files/2018/08/Haena-Wainiha-Repair-only.jpg
https://kauaidailynews.com/category/kauai-news/
https://historichawaii.org/2018/08/17/emergency-repairs-to-kauai-belt-road-will-retain-and-strengthen-waioli-bridge-demolish-two-other-historic-bridges/
https://www.thegardenisland.com/2019/05/01/hawaii-news/kuhio-highway-wont-reopen-until-late-may/
https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/37959055/dozens-of-homes-damaged-on-kauai-floodwaters-close-roads/
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