KAILUA — A six-year push to gain approval and finance the construction of a new access road to Kailua High School is a signature away from realization.

The Legislature last week approved a state budget that includes $5,175,000 for the new road that will come off Kalaniana'ole Highway near the Women's Community Correctional Center, bypassing the Pohakupu subdivision where the school is located.

Gov. Linda Lingle must still sign the budget bill, House Bill 1900, and release the money before work can begin. It was not known when construction could begin.

Pohakupu residents who have been seeking a new road for more than 30 years renewed their efforts about six years ago. With the help of the Kailua and Waimanalo neighborhood boards, they were able to convince state legislators that the access was necessary. Three different administrations tentatively supported the road and there was even a little money to get started, but now the road construction has been approved, said Mike Heh, who has spearheaded the road campaign for six years.

"After more than six years of working this, the gravity of its success has not yet set in," Heh said. Heh lives near the school and is directly affected by speeding traffic and careless drivers. "While I am really happy, I am also numb," he wrote in an e-mail.

The current access road to the school is Ulumanu Drive, a two-block stretch that comes off Kailua Road and passes through a residential neighborhood.

Norm Ipson, who has lived in Pohakupu for 42 years, said everyone he knows in the community is thankful for the prospect of a new access road. He said he can't recall the number of mail boxes that were damaged or fences destroyed by careless drivers. Two children were struck and injured by an automobile driven by a high school student many years ago and there was always a fear something worse could happen, Ipson said.

He said there were numerous attempts to get the state or city to build the road.

"We got promises but nobody followed through," Ipson said. "We've progressed further (this time) than we ever have."

Heh credits Debbi Glanstein, a Kailua Neighborhood Board member who knows the legislative ropes, for working tirelessly for the last two years to usher the project through the Legislature.

"This project is a stellar example that grass-roots efforts really work and that while many politicians gave their support and then came and went, the community citizens kept the continuity that won us the new access road," Heh said. "We never gave up and year after year we showed up at the Capitol to meet, testify and persuade. We've had three past governors make a promise to make a new entrance and this governor made good on it."

Glanstein said she was glad to help as a member of the neighborhood board, which supports the road construction.

"This has been successful, so far, because of the support, encouragement and assistance from key legislators, the administration, and every one of the Windward legislators," Glanstein said.

Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com.