LAHAINA, Maui — The state Department of Transportation expects to begin construction on the often-delayed Lahaina bypass in January with a new route that will avoid two archaeological sites, department officials have announced.

A public meeting on the project last week also exposed sharp community divisions apparently based on ethnicity or socioeconomic status.

The $48 million, half-mile Phase 1A of the bypass has been stalled since last fall when two archaeological sites were discovered within the path of the highway that would run from Lahainaluna Road to an extension of Keawe Street.

Transportation officials said Hawai'i Cultural Surveys completed its investigation of one site and is nearly finished with the second. So far, no burials have been found within the 32 acres of terraces and walls, which state officials said they believe were built for hand-cultivated sugar cane perhaps as early as the mid-1800s.

EMOTIONS RUN HIGH

Still, in order to avoid the sensitive sites, Ed Sniffen of the Highways Division said planners are considering a realignment to go around them.

Last week, most Native Hawaiians who spoke out stated their heritage and then their opposition to a plan that they said could further disrupt burials as well as cultural sites — and promote further high-end development in West Maui.

Others in the audience spoke in favor of speeding the bypass construction, often opening with a statement on how many years or decades they'd lived on the Isles, then advocating for construction jobs, public safety and quicker commutes.

Thirty-three people testified of about 200 people crowding the downstairs meeting room at the Lahaina Civic Center.

At one point, longtime hotel cultural specialist Lori Ululani Sablas, a member of the governor's Maui advisory council, asked those in favor of the plan to stand up. About half the people did.

"It's all haoles standing up," one man shouted from the back.

Planning for a Lahaina bypass began more than 30 years ago and has been regularly stalled by disputes over the route and the costs.

The bypass is intended to relieve traffic along Honoapi'ilani Highway through Lahaina town and the Ka'anapali Resort, which is frequently jammed to a near-standstill from visitors heading to their hotels when workers are usually heading home.

The first phase is aimed at alleviating traffic from Lahainaluna Road by providing a second route to the roadway that is now the only access for three public schools — Lahainaluna High School, Lahaina Intermediate School and Princess Nahienaena Elementary School.

When completed, the entire corridor will be 10 miles long, running from Launiupoko to Honokowai.

Representatives of Mayor Charmaine Tavares and Rep. Angus McKelvey, a Democrat representing residents of West Maui and north Kihei, said the two supported the new alignment.

State officials and contractors said that if all goes as planned, construction on Phase 1A could begin in January. An environmental assessment should be completed by August.

TRICKY ROUTE PLANNING

Sniffen said the state is complying with federal law that requires it to avoid historic sites.

Still, several speakers repeatedly asked state officials to reconsider using the old cane haul road as an alternative route. This option would utilize existing easements that served the old Pioneer Mill. After a century of use by cane-hauling equipment, its use is less likely to unearth more discoveries, proponents said.

Laura Mau, senior planner for consultant Wilson Okamoto Corp., said the cane road is too narrow at only 80 feet wide. It's also bent and twisted, is just a few hundred feet from Honoapi'ilani Highway and would cut through the Sugar Cane Train rail line.

At least two homes and a section of the railroad line, which follows a historic rail track, would have to be removed, she said. There also remains the possibility of finding more archaeological sites at the cane road.

"The iwi of our kupuna is our life," said Albert Dizon. "I'm sick of the degradation, of all this development."

Toni Kaahanui Dizon said the bypass and other realignment of Honoapi'ilani farther southeast won't stop congestion anyway because the pali will continue to bottleneck traffic.

The issue was also raised as to whether the state even has the right to build on ceded lands in light of a recent state Supreme Court decision that bars the government from selling or transferring the properties indefinitely.

"This place is not for sale," said Maui/Lanai Islands Burial Council member Keeaumoku Kapu. He said he has been in conversations with state transportation officials as a family representative of descendants of the Hawaiians who originally populated the Lahaina lands.

Conversely, Ezekiel "Zeke" Kalua, with the West Maui Taxpayers Association, spoke out against the racial overtones that permeated some arguments. He said he was part Filipino, Hawaiian and white.

"If I'm going to be accused of being a haole for supporting the bypass, then call me haole," Kalua said. "The bottom line is, there are 3,000 students on the top of that road with no other way getting them home if there is a flood or fire."