Kauai and Maui to receive $50M in federal funding for infrastructure upgrades
Kauai and Maui will soon see a total of nearly $50 million in federal grant funding for infrastructure improvements, congressional officials announced Monday.
The funding — which comes from the United States Department of Transportation — was awarded through the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability & Equity, or RAISE, grant program.
Maui will receive $25 million to help construct the Waiale Road Extension, which extends Waiale Road from East Waiko Road southward to Honoapiilani Highway. The 8,600-foot extension will also include two travel lanes, bike lanes, sidewalks, grass swales, and a shared-use path on one side of the roadway.
The project will also support additional housing in the area, according to officials.
Kauai will receive $24.8 million in RAISE grant funding to construct 3.3 miles of roadway improvements on Poipu Road, from Koloa Town to Poipu. The project will also include roundabouts, bicycle lanes, sidewalks, pedestrian crossings, bus stops, landscaped medians, resurfaced roadway, and drainage improvements.
“This is a huge win for Kauai and Maui and our most successful year for big dollar, competitive infrastructure grants,” said U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, in a statement.
“It is rare for any state to get this level of grant funding in a single year, and it will be put to good use by improving roads, bike lanes, sidewalks, and bus stops, connecting communities and making it safer and easier for people to travel.”
