Public Access to the Roads and Trails of West Maui

At its inaugural meeting, the North Beach West Maui Benefit Fund committed to identifying, studying and presenting information regarding the historical trails and roads of West Maui. Since the late 1960s, the government promised the development of a Lahaina bypass road. Some forty years later, the bypass has not yet been built. Meanwhile, throughout the West Maui coast, more and more development has taken place.

As time passes, the knowledge and recollection of old roads and trails recedes from the memories of the living. This process of change, in part natural and in part the result of rapid development, has been augmented by a long-standing dispute between the State and Maui County over responsibility of old government roads after the State took the best highways out of the county road system and cut county funding for transportation. In spite of this dispute and because of the rapid development of this region, proper planning for medium- and long-term transportation needs must occur. The North Beach West Maui Benefit Fund believes that planning which supports comprehensive understandings of transportation must incorporate as much of the available historical infrastructure as possible.This small volume hopes to be the first in a series of projects to help expand the base of knowledge and understanding of West Maui’s transportation history, and possibilities for the present and future.