Hana Highway Regulation works with, and on behalf of, the Community of East Maui to advocate for more responsible tourism management. We push for responsive government and visitor industry intervention. We promote the most pertinent Hana Hwy. traveler information to improve road safety for residents and visitors.

We have worked to improve Hana Highway road safety for residents and visitors by..

I. Publishing and promoting a "Road to Hana Code of Conduct" through media, educational events and general outreach. We have provided training opportunities for the visitor industry including resorts, rental car companies and tour operators.

II. Gathering traffic, commercial and community input data along the Road to Hana activity route. Composing summary reports and presentations that articulate the impact of the visitor industry on East Maui. Relaying our findings to government leaders and visitor industry relevant organizations. Advocating that the Hana Highway be properly maintained so that it is safe for all.

III. Decreasing harm for residents and visitors by implementing data-based solutions with proven outcomes of effectiveness. Working with stakeholders to identify community-vetted solutions. Developing a comprehensive and holistic visitor management plan for the Hana Highway.

Hana Highway Regulation was formed in 2016 to expedite highway data collection and stakeholder input processes for local government and the visitor industry, to help them more efficiently address tourism impacts that have plagued our East Maui community. Much of the rhetoric behind lack of resolution on this issue were based on the inability to identify community consensus which provoked us to facilitate a tour of town hall meetings from 2016-2020. These comment opportunities were held in small towns from Paia to Hana and through to Kula which is considered the official Road to Hana activity route. We have conducted traffic surveys, interviews with lineal descendants and local residents, visitor questionnaires and commercial operator compliance reviews. The information we collected over the last six years has provided us with a depth of comprehension on the core problems and potential solutions which we have articulated by way of summary reports, presentations and proposals for the public. The four items below are considered culprits of the tourism impacts occurring..

HISTORY OF THE HANA HIGHWAY

Hana Highway along the Eastern edge of Maui has become internationally renowned for the access it provides to this scenic and wondrous place. In recognition of this, President Bill Clinton designated Hana Highway as Hana Millenium Legacy Trail in 2000 and in 2001 listed on the National Register of Historical Places. Not coincidentally, the drama evidenced by the landscape also creates the greatest challenges for maintaining a reliable roadway. This coastline is best characterized by the Ko’olau Mountains and Haleakala Volcano, Hana Highway clings to the side of steep slopes, traverses broad coastal terraces and spans deep valleys leading to the sea. Prone to landsliding, Hana Highway undergoes continual repairs. With virtually no detours available, the highway is also a lifeline to communities and businesses. The region of East Maui is home to clusters of aboriginal Hawaiian villages with tenants who continue to exercise their subsistence culture which relies on natural resources from the mountain to the sea to ensure community health and well-being.

NEED FOR VISITOR MANAGEMENT

Increased pressures which are complicating our ability to maintain reliable access has prompted this initiative and civil volunteer organization. Resident volunteers actively survey the highway to support development of a regionally curated visitor management plan. The Hana Highway Regulation focuses on the North to South route and areas of Paia to Hana and through to Kula.

In 2017, we established the Hana Highway code of conduct and promoted these critical information points and safety guidelines by way of extensive visitor industry outreach with resorts, rental car companies and tour operators. Through our research, advocacy and work with the public utilities commission, we did substantially decrease the amount of unlicensed tour operators which were festering a black market offering of Road to Hana tours without the adequate permits and licenses to be conducting such business. Our web surveillance committee monitors social media channels for content that offends community policy which are photos or videos that influence trespassing on private property and the exploitation or monetization of cultural sites. We have engaged with large platforms, influencers and content creators asking they remove media that entices visitors to seek out dangerous locations that culprit emergency rescue needs often ending with visitor injuries and fatalities. 

Hana Highway Regulation is currently working to garner Destination Management Action Plan support from Maui Visitor and Convention Bureau and Hawaii Tourism Authority in order to implement our Visitor Information Personnel service concept which has proven a 96% efficacy rate in preventing illegal parking and trespassing on private property by visitors which cause traffic hazards and subsequent delays that are inflicted upon our community and first responders. We are rallying for visitor industry responsiveness to back solutions that have proven outcomes of effectiveness instead of mechanisms that are solely information output oriented wielded by promotional marketing. We consider visitor messaging to be ineffective in the scope of "improving road safety for residents and visitors" which was outlined as an objective by the State of Hawaii Senate and House of Representatives by way of House Concurrent Resolution. No. 29, passed in the 2022 legislative session naming Hana Highway Regulation as a stakeholder that the Department of Transportation is encouraged to work with to develop a holistic management plan for Hana Highway. 

Based on our experience, we encourage communities across Hawaii facing similar issues to take the initiative of organizing and gathering their impact and capacity data internally rather than relying on the State or industry which may delay resolution for the harm occurring. It is important that the people of the various locations enduring visitor impacts are at the helm of destination management decisions. Only place-specific intelligence is capable of producing the most effective solutions possible. 

Admin@HanaHighwayRegulation.com

P.o. Box 81511 Haiku, HI 96708