Written by: Melissa Tanji

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DOE admitted it expedited $16M for roundabout instead of school crossing

A Maui state lawmaker wants a financial audit of the state Department of Education’s decision to transfer $16 million to the state Department of Transportation to expedite the new Kihei roundabout, rather than using it to build a required grade-separated crossing for the new high school nearby.

Sen. Angus McKelvey, whose district includes South Maui, said over the weekend that he intends to introduce a resolution calling for the audit.

When questioned by state Land Use Commission members last week, DOE officials acknowledged that they used the funds to help fast-track the roundabout, which both DOE and DOT officials have said will help calm traffic in front of Kulanihako’i High School.

The opening of the high school mauka of Piilani Highway has been put on hold, as the DOE has not yet fulfilled a 2013 LUC condition that a grade-separated crossing be built prior to the school’s opening. Community members have long called for the crossing, worried about students trying to cross the busy highway. Some, however, now that feel a solution can be worked out prior to the crossing being built, noting that some buildings on the new campus are complete and could accommodate a freshman class that is currently being housed at nearby Lokelani Intermediate.

But McKelvey said he is “extremely disappointed and frustrated”with the DOE and its “failure to meet the requirements”set forth by the LUC, instead putting money that could have been used for the grade-separated crossing elsewhere.

“This is unconscionable, considering this school has been in the works for the past ten years,”McKelvey said in a news release. “It is a travesty that this money was taken from our children and used to fund a DOT project when they have their own budget.”

“If the DOE wants to make this right, they will go for a design-build and request a traffic emergency zone proclamation from the Governor to move forward with this project immediately,”he added.

McKelvey explained via text that the traffic emergency zone proclamation is a special type of state of emergency proclamation for state highway projects, similar to the emergency proclamation Gov. Josh Green issued to help expedite projects to address homelessness.

McKelvey added that the director of the DOT can also issue the emergency proclamation.

In an emailed statement Monday afternoon, DOE spokeswoman Nanea Kalani said: “The Department acknowledges work on the grade-separated crossing has not progressed as quickly as expected. We are committed to meeting all of the necessary requirements to open the campus so that students can benefit from the state-of-the-art learning facilities in their own community.”

Kalani said that in July, the DOE moved toward satisfying the requirement by commissioning a study to solicit community input and analyze grade-separated crossing options.

The study found a “strong preference”for an overpass near Kulanihakoi Street. The project is expected to cost between $10 million and $14 million and take three to five years to complete.

The DOE “is close to awarding a design contract and is exploring funding options to expedite this work with student safety as a top priority,”Kalani said.

In the meantime, the DOE has turned to options that include using the roundabout to slow traffic fronting the school and developing a pedestrian safety plan that calls for crossing guards and school-operated shuttles until the grade-separated crossing is completed.

The DOT did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.

DOE officials late last year had sought a temporary certificate of occupancy from the county. But former Planning Director Michele McLean denied the request, noting the unfulfilled LUC condition.

The DOE also met with new Mayor Richard Bissen’s administration in January. In a news release on Jan. 13, Bissen said the county would not be issuing a temporary certificate of occupancy “at this time.”

He said the county will be working very closely with the DOE to “systematically get through the required steps”and that student safety is “first and foremost.”