Heading toward Poipu on Maluhia Road through the Tree Tunnel on any given afternoon, traffic begins backing up as you reach Old Koloa town. A driver realizes too late that this is the left turn they want and brakes in the lane because there is no place to turn into. The car behind stops. Once you have turned onto Koloa Road, there is no shoulder to pull into and no space to correct any mistake, so lines form quickly and can stretch back quite a distance.
Not since the sugar industry was here has Koloa seen traffic like this, and it’s only the beginning. A few years ago, the new Koloa Village opened with over 24 stores and restaurants in the mixed-use development, and now more than 200 new homes have just been approved for this once sleepy town.
As you drive through Koloa’s single lane diagonal parking stretch, every vehicle backing out enters traffic blind because parked cars block sightlines on both sides. Pedestrians cross wherever it makes sense to them because the painted crossings are not where people actually need to cross. A rental Jeep stops in the lane so someone can step out for a photo. A delivery truck sits parked with flashers on because there simply is no loading zone. Cars edge around one at a time while opposing traffic does the same.
There is a bypass road that splits off after the Tree Tunnel and skirts Old Koloa before connecting closer to Poipu Beach. It helps drivers avoid the diagonal parking stretch if they are primarily heading from Lihue to the resorts or the beach. It does not remove the fact that Old Koloa remains the commercial hub for the entire south shore. The main grocery store and other everyday services are there. Drivers heading from Poipu, Lawai, Omao, and further west still drive into town for basic errands, and that traffic runs through the same limited road.
The first new homes are not yet occupied
The 60-unit Kauhale project at Koloa Village is nearly finished and clearly visible from the road. No one lives there yet, which means the daily departures and returns tied to those homes have not even begun. When those units fill, residents will use this corridor every morning and every evening because there is no other way in and out of Koloa Town.
The first increase in traffic volume has not even arrived. There is no data showing how 60 more occupied homes will load this corridor at peak hour, as that pattern has not started. And that is just the beginning.
The commission just approved 148 more residences.
Last week, the Kauai Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve the 148-unit project at Weliweli and Waikomo roads. Two conditions were added: the units can never be used as vacation rentals, and 45 percent must be reserved for existing county residents. Those restrictions address ownership and use, but they do not reduce the number of vehicles that will use this corridor.
One-bedroom units are expected to start at about $520,000, two-bedrooms around $650,000, and three-bedrooms in the high $600,000s. Combined with the 60 units already under construction, more than 200 homes will connect to the same road network that now funnels traffic through the narrow diagonal parking stretch and the approach to and from the Tree Tunnel.
The developer said it completed a traffic impact analysis.
The developer said a traffic impact analysis was completed and that county staff reviewed it before the vote. The commission did not require additional traffic study as a condition of approval. Opponents focused on one of the feeder roads connecting the project site back toward Old Koloa and Poipu, Waikomo Road, arguing that it narrows in places and carries children walking to school. They questioned whether adding this many units without further traffic review made sense given the way the area’s connecting roads already function.
The commission chair described the decision as the most challenging of his tenure. The vote to approve was still unanimous.
Housing is needed, but the road is unchanged
Kauai needs housing. Residents are struggling to find homes they can afford, and projects aimed at them instead of vacation buyers are limited. That pressure is real and it is part of why this project was approved.
The road through Koloa Town has real problems. Diagonal parking forces drivers to back blindly into oncoming traffic. Sightlines are blocked. There is no shoulder. There is no second exit route. When cars back up, emergency vehicles sit in the same line as everyone else. Those conditions existed before the vote and they remain after it. Adding more homes does not change any of them.
Paper approval versus pavement reality
On paper the situation including heavy traffic and peak-hour volumes can look acceptable. In practice, one driver hesitating in the wrong place backs up traffic to the bend. It is an accident waiting to happen. One vehicle blocking a lane slows everything behind it, or worse.
The vote is done. Koloa’s construction plans will move forward. The road remains exactly as it is, and soon it will be carrying more than 200 additional households through the same narrow stretch every day.
If you have been to Koloa recently, what has your experience been like? Are you glad to see more stores and development, or do you wish everything had stayed the same? We invite your comments.
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Here’s my radical idea: make Kōloa Road one way from Maluhia Road to Big Save. People can get to the restaurants, shops, the post office and market, then use
I moved to Kauai in 1972, enrolled in Kauai community college, found a job, surfed when I had the time and never worried about crowds, life was a lot more simple back then, sugar cane blanketed the island, and everywhere you went, the mystical spirit of Kauai enveloped you. People were happy to share some of the day’s catch, or the lychee harvest with neighbors or friends. Unfortunately I had to return to the mainland because of parents health issues, but still return every chance I get. It’s not quite the same now, still the beautiful island I once knew, but the infrastructure cannot handle the growth, and any improvements will have dramatic change. I don’t have any answers for that, but at least I still have the beautiful memories from times gone past. Maybe bring back the sugarcane! lol! Aloha
Yes, Old Koloa Town, is a nice little fun, funky Hawaiian town growing beyond its road infrastructure capacity.
We come to stay in Poipu area about three times per year, and have seen the increase in dangers for drivers and pedestrians as it got busier and busier the last 3 years.
The commission made another mistake by not requiring another traffic study before approving the latest housing project. Actually, another study would not have been needed, and common sense should have taken over if the commissioners just drove around, parked, walked around multiple times to see the obvious trouble areas themselves. The main drag in front of the older shops and restaurants and that intersection will certainly need to be addressed now.
This info just landed in our Oregon newspaper via AP. I was already aware, having just spent time in Poipu, dining in Koloa, missing the left turn, but finding a better route. I wish the housing was only for residents. I read about the second development and it seems they are promising a village where people never have to get in their cars (nice thought unless you have a job elsewhere). Parking is already an issue there as are people who just wander across the road as if it isn’t a busy thoroughfare. Hopefully there are plans to implement off-street parking.
There is a major competency problem with town and county planning throughout Hawaii. Hawaii desperately needs more experienced town planners, and their voices need to have added weight to all decisions.
None of the folks who currently sit on the Kauai County Planning Commission have any city planning background whatsoever. You have a former senate staffer, a community college director, a carpenter, and an office manager. Only one person on that committee has any real-world experience managing anything.
One of the reasons the death toll in Lahaina was so high, was the lack of through streets and the abysmal lack of town planning period. Growth across Hawaii is managed on a disjointed ad-hoc basis with no thought towards future growth or planning. We need to do better.
People hate the alternate routes, as it creates traffic though neighborhoods. What we’ve done a whole lot around here is to put in fire lane escape routes. They have fiberglass barrier posts. They have a lock on the base, so the police or fire department can remove them. But if worse comes to worse, you can run them over to escape. It will scrape up your paint some, but you’ll survive the event and get away.
having lived and worked in Kauai for over 40 years there is no doubt a traffic issue in Koloa and Lihue and Wailua; as much as we would like, these are not for random developers to resolve without a comprehensive plan. These are issues for the County to resolve. Additionally, many if not most of the folks who will be living in the new developments already live in Koloa so perhaps the concern about 200 additional families is misplaced especially considering the need for additional housing outweighs this concern. The ‘difficult’ decision by the Planning Commission?; a developer is willing to take the risk and build attainable homes for local residents? Easy decision and those that oppose it are only considering their NIMBY concerns and not the concerns of the entire community…..
If we invite one million visitors a year, the least we can do is provide housing for those that service the industry.
” Two conditions were added: the units can never be used as vacation rentals, and 45 percent must be reserved for existing county residents. Those restrictions address ownership and use, but they do not reduce the number of vehicles that will use this corridor.”
I question the legality of both points. I’m presuming on the “can never be used as vacation rentals” means for less than 30 days. 30+ day rentals can’t be restricted to locals under the 14th amendment.
The second part simply can’t survive if challenged. It would get hit by redlining laws on top of the constitutional challenge.
Yea exactly. Coupled with the fact that more than 50% of the working class here on Kauai make less than 60k/year. Unless you’re a nurse,doctor, independently wealthy, non profit administrators, military or upper level county jobber there is almost a zero percent chance you’re buying a 1bd apartment for 520k and affording to live there. With 100k down you’d still be paying 3-4k a month just in mortgage payments. Families could pool resources for the 3bd apartments but either way. The developer has done his homework. Local people living in Kauai county will not be buying these units. They will probably be renting them from someone who already has a home or 2 and leverage them as an investment. Considering rent prices on Kauai are crazy.
Aloha. My wife and I just returned from 3 weeks on Kauai. We stayed in Poipu and visited Koloa several times. Our feeling is that Koloa is adding some very nice, well planned shopping and living areas. Everything seems to fit in with the character of the town. We would also agree that the roads in certain areas are becoming unsafe as traffic increases. The intersection of Mahulia and Koloa roads is scary most of the time, for vehicles and pedestrians. Another very dangerous spot in the area is the intersection of Poipu Rd. and Kiahuna Plantation Dr. I think our biggest fear was for pedestrians. In addition to more vehicles are more pedestrians seemingly all over the place in the Koloa/Poipu area.
You’ve got to be kidding. No further road study? We had always visited 10 days on Maui and 10 days rotating one of the other islands each year. Then we decided to vacation only on Maui and Kauai due to the ever increasing congestion on Maui, Oahu, and the Big Island. Then only Kauai. But reading this article I just don’t know. Our visits to Kaui may changing. Love this island. 😮💨
It would be nice if the intersection near the gas station + across from the food trucks was widened (coming from tree tunnel). Maing the right turn then immediately making a left is a bit challenging. It would be sad to put up a stop light though. I would have preferred to see more housing on the alternate road leading to Poipu, that bypasses Old Koloa town as that seems to have more open space.
People saying just use the bypass clearly don’t live here. Try getting to the Big Save market or the hardware store, without cutting through town.
It really depends on “from where”. Coming from Poipu, I usually come in Waikomo road to big save. Either from the bypass via Mahaulepu Rd or directly from Poipu road.
The Koloa bypass helps a lot if you’re just heading to Poipu Beach itself, but it does nothing for grocery runs. and everyone still ends up in Koloa. That town is the hub whether planners admit it or not and it is already unworkable.
I drive that stretch twice a day and it’s super dangerous. The diagonal parking and people backing up into traffic is the worst part. You just sit there waiting for someone to back into you. Adding hundreds more homes without even touching the road feels reckless.