3 days ago
Landowner ‘forced' to shut down public access to shortcut from Ewa to Kapolei
HONOLULU (KHON2) — A short stretch of road in Ewa Beach serves as a key artery for those going from Ewa Villages to Kapolei. But the road is actually private, and the landowner says it's being forced to close access to the public.
Nanakuli residents want more access to emergency road
Philippine Sea Street is a small road in Ewa, only about 500 feet long, but it has a big impact for those in West Oʻahu.
'Oh lot of people,' said Dennis Brock, Ewa resident. 'Initially when it was here about 30 years ago, there was not that much usage. But since all the construction and the housing, this access road, I mean, lot of people use it, it's just like a shortcut.'
But after complaints from some drivers about the condition of the road, it's scheduled to be shut down August 15.
'We had people coming up to us and saying, if you not keep up, my car's gonna get damaged and so we ended up having to rethink what we're gonna do with the road,' said Ross Stephenson, Hawaiʻi Railway Society Board of Directors.
The road's landowner is the Hawaiʻi Railway Society. They are planning to close the gate on the Roosevelt Avenue end.'We've got so much traffic going through here now you can see the neighbors put up jersey barriers over here to keep their kids safe,' said Stephenson. 'We've had lots of accidents, even across the street, through the stop sign, people been driving through there.'
HRS says the breaking point was a few months ago when the city told them it wasn't going to maintain the road anymore, even though the public, even city buses, use it.
So HRS paid $7,000 for repatching some areas.
Despite what the Hawaiʻi Railway Society maintains, the city says it has no records of its crews doing any kind of maintenance on this road. The city also says the society has not initiated any kind of talks for any kind of sale or transfer.
When closed, commuters between Ewa Villages and Kapolei will now have to go the long way around, either via Kapolei Parkway or Roosevelt Avenue.
'It's important for me,' said Brock. 'Cuts down like half an hour.'
'To be honest, we should be thankful that this is open,' said Jack Aris, Ewa resident. 'Potholes is nothing new. But I'd rather choose the pothole than congestion to be honest.'
Check out more news from around Hawaii
'If we create any inconvenience to the public, we apologize,' said Stephenson. 'But we have our own focus. We don't have the money to keep this up, and so we don't have any choice.'
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
