27-05-2025
Traffic expected as crews truck Lahaina wildfire debris to central Maui
HONOLULU (KHON2) — It's said to be the next important step in rebuilding Lahaina, moving all the debris from the fire to its permanent site.
The move will cause some traffic problems for commuters for the next few months and cost taxpayers millions more.
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More than 1,500 structures, both residential and commercial, were destroyed in the August 2023 Lahaina wildfire. The first step in rebuilding is removing all the debris.
'The longer the debris sat there, the more vulnerable the near-shore waters were to exposure when it rained,' said John Smith, Maui County Office of Recovery Administrator. 'So, there were very few options, and Olowalu came to the top of the options in terms of logistics.'
Olowalu is just a 10-minute drive from Lahaina town, which officials say sped up the cleanup process while they figured out where to permanently put the debris, which is located next to the current landfill in central Maui.
Starting next month, crews will use up to 50 dump trucks a day to transport the debris 19 miles from Olowalu to Puunene. Work will be done seven days a week, only during daylight hours.'You'll see the trucks, but it's not going to be this major increase in traffic,' said Smith.
'I think people don't realize the impact that it's going to have until it actually happens,' said Sen. Troy Hashimoto, (D) Wailuku, Kahului, Waiehu. 'And so people are going to start seeing that, especially people that live in my district who live in central Maui and commute to work. They're going to feel that.'
Maui County officials say they surveyed residents and found their top concern was environmental impact, which is why officials finally chose the central Maui site over Olowalu.
But the county had to buy the land for $4 million. It also had to pay to prepare the landfill site for the 400,000 tons of debris.
'I think we would probably have rather used some of that money for other things, but I think that decision was made and we have to move on at this point,' said Hashimoto.
That's exactly what county officials are doing. Even though only a few homes in Lahaina have been rebuilt, officials say there are more than 250 homes under construction.
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'All of that work could not have started unless we would have made this decision right away to move the debris to the temporary site,' said Smith. 'Otherwise, we'd still be waiting on the permanent landfill today, which is just not ready.'
The debris transportation is expected to run through November.
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