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Bridge Fixes Along the H?na Highway

Jai Mansson / Flickr
Jai Mansson / Flickr

The road to Hana is one of Hawaii's most famous scenic drives.  Thousands of visitors make the three-hour drive to East Maui every year, and now many of the historic bridges along the way are falling apart.  Eileen Chao has more from The Maui News.

The iconic winding road to Hana is known for its cascading waterfalls and lush tropical forest.  But people are also starting to notice old, deteriorating bridges that could pose big safety risks if nothing is done.  That's why the state Department of Transportation is finalizing a plan to fix the ailing bridges. The state owns most of the one-lane bridges and culverts between mileposts 5 and 34.  Some of those bridges are more than a hundred years old.

The state's bridge preservation plan outlines repairs and restorations that need to be made for each bridge over the next 50 years.  The oldest bridge along the highway, for example, was built in 1908 and needs new crash-tested railings on both sides to bring it up to current codes.

The repairs won't be done all at once, but will be completed as funding becomes available. State Sen. J. Kalani English, whose district includes Hana and East Maui, says it's important to have a plan in place, instead of waiting for bridges to fail.

Hana residents say they know the bridges need work, but they also want to preserve the historic character and feel of the bridges and highway. That means keeping the bridges one-way with slow speeds, preserving the Hawaiian names of each stream and maintaining the rural, local feel that comes to mind when people think of Hana.

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