Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 20, Number 12, 1 December 2003 — H3 mitigation project to seek public input [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

H3 mitigation project to seek public input

By Sterling Kini Wong Afederally funded project established to identify and preserve cultural sites impacted by the development of the H-3 freeway has completed its first project approval phase and is now working on development of a Strategic Plan. As part of this process, the Hālawa-Luluku Interpretive Development project (HLID) will be seeking public input in meetings slated for early 2004. HLID coordinator Kahikina Akana said the project is seeking a wide range of community input, including oral histories and opinions as to the direction the project should take. Although dates and locations for the public meetings have yet to be scheduled, Akana said there will be several held from January to June. As a result of a 1999 agreement between the state Department of Transportation and OHA, and with $11 million in funding from the Federal Highways Administration

(FHWA), HLID was created to mitigate the impact of H-3 development on cultural resources in Luluku and Hālawa valleys. In October, HLID received approval of its procedural plan from FHWA, and in November it entered into its strategic planning stage. According to Akana, the strategic plan will be completed between May and June, barring any delays. In the third phase, called the Interpretive Development Plan, scheduled for completion in Aug. 2005, the project will determine the most appropriate ways of mitigating the impacts of development on the sites that have been identified. "If we find a heiau impacted by the H-3, we have to decide what ean be done to mitigate those impacts, Akana said. "If that means restoring it, we will restore it," The controversial H-3 freeway was opened in December 1997, following 37 years of planning, construction and community protests. At a cost of $1.3 billion, H-3 is the largest and

r i — ■ ■ most expensive public works project in the state. Bishop Museum has identified more than 150 cultural sites in Hālawa and Luluku since it began its archaeological study of the areas 20 F years ago. Lela Hubbard, an early H3 I protestor, said the development of the freeway destroyed parts of a sprawling terraced lo'i in Luluku, whose walls at some areas measured 10 feet in height. In addition, she said, the H-3 has impacted Kukuiokāne, a major heiau that contained about 12,000 ancient burials. Hubbard, one of 14 members of the working group that collaborates with HLID to develop a plan for the remaining cultural sites, said that members of the group became frustrated with the project's slow paee, so they drafted their own plan proposal. She said she envisions the valley as a cultural preserve and an educational center, "a plaee where Hawaiians ean go to rejuvenate their souls." For information on the locations and times of the puhlie meetings, eall HLIDat 587-4391. ■

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More than 150 archaeological sites identified by Bishop Museum in the Hōlawa and Luluku valleys were directly impacted by development of the H-3 freeway. Photo: oha statf.