SAVE MAKAHA BEACH

“Makaha Surfing Beach and must be preserved and protected. Any new bridge or roadwork on Farrington Highway at or near the beach should incorporate the community's preferred mauka route to the north and northwest of Makaha Beach Park as depicted on the master plan for the Makaha Beach Park dated May 24, 1999. If the current bridges are rebuilt as planned at their current location, such an investment would jeopardize the preferred mauka reroute and the Makaha Beach Park project until these new bridges need replacement 70-100 years from now. It is extremely unlikely that anyone would be willing to tear them down for many years from now to build the mauka route and park the community has voiced its concerns for since the mid-1980s. If the current Makaha Bridges replacement project proceeds as planned, the placing of the PROJECT's temporary bypass road on the makai side of Farrington highway will place the Makaha Beach ecosystem in immediate peril, especially if the "five-year flood level standard" temporary bridges are washed into the bay by inland flooding or ocean surge. If the mauka route is constructed, there will be no need to construct a temporary bypass route because the current route would be fully available. The existing bridges have been recently repaired and reinforced by the State DOT; there are no posted limititations on either of the bridges, they have withstood multiple 100 year floods (including the most recent in 2008). These bridges should last many years, giving plenty of time for the State DOT to reevaluate alternative #4 (the mauka route) and modify the current design to accommodate the community's needs and desires