More than six months after the Maui wildfires gutted the historic town of Lahaina, Hawaii, and killed 101, state transportation officials announced new evacuation routes for residents.
The Aug. 8, 2023, blaze trapped many Lahaina residents. There are still two missing people unaccounted for from the fire, Robert Owens and Elmer Lee Stevens, the Maui Police Department said in an update Tuesday.
More than 40 of those deaths occurred in one neighborhood, Kuhua Camp, which had narrow roads crowded with parked cars, according to KHNL-TV.
Hawaii Department of Transportation officials announced three projects meant to create more ways out of Lahaina.
The sound wall in the Kelawea Mauka neighborhood will be opened to create another way to reach a local bypass, Hawaii Route 3000.
“We made sure that we’re providing an emergency option in case of a fire. In case of an emergency, we can open up an emergency access on the lower side of that community to dump directly onto the bypass,” HDOT Director Ed Sniffen told KHNL-TV.
In addition to an emergency access route added for local schools in October, another route will be added to connect Lahainaluna Road to Hawaii Route 3000, HDOT told NBC News.
The road became blocked off by debris, fire crews and fleeing evacuees during the wildfire.
“You couldn’t wait for police to evacuate you,” Lahaina resident and fire survivor Andrea Pekelo told NBC News.
There are also plans to extend the bypass to Ukumehame Beach Park, officials told KHNL-TV.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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