I know. I know. It is not Tourist Tuesday or Tourist Thursday, and here I am again suggesting solutions to our tourist problems that we need to explore and/or implement. It seems particularly timely with the start of the construction project at JP Burns that will last until…what?…fall?
Here is a very similar situation to what happened here in 2017/2018 and how a sister state is dealing with overtourism and a disasterous road closure. There is a lot to be learned from this article about the solutions they are implementing that could be applied here, as well.
From https://www.thegardenisland.com/2019/04/11/hawaii-news/wary-of-highway-reopening/
“HAENA — Kuhio Highway west of Hanalei — closed and accessible only to residents since last year’s disastrous storms — is tentatively set to reopen on or about May 1, but continuing restrictions will make actually using the highway challenging for both residents and visitors.
For the first month the highway is back in operation, Haena State Park — gateway to Ke‘e Beach and the Kalalau Trail — will remain closed entirely, as state park officials hurry to finish a reconstruction of park facilities that will cut the number of visitors allowed to go there from 2,000 to 900 each day.
Details of the phased reopening of the highway were presented Tuesday night at a contentious meeting of the Hanalei-Haena Community Association, attended by top county and state officials.”
This article has the solutions that Kauai is implementing to make this opening a bit more palatable to the residents effected. We need to be looking at which of these solutions to our situation could or should be applied here. Please go read the article in its entirety.
What is really shocking to me is that Elmo, Nathanael and I camped at Haena beach in 1983 and there were almost no people on the road at all. Now they are cutting back to 900 a day.