Maui Ferry Sites To Be Studied

A Continuation From The Lahaina Sun

Maui ferry sites:

The Hawaii government is planning to hire a private consulting firm to study potential interisland ferry landing sites on Maui, according to Fujio Matsuda, state transportation director.

Matsuda said the firm will study ocean currents, waves, weather and other conditions along the leeward shore of Maui in order to identify several possible landing sites.

After the study is completed, public hearings will be held on Maui to give residents a chance to comment on proposed sites.

Matsuda said the study would be "relatively low cost". There is no timetable for its completion.

Only the leeward side of the island-the West Maui and Kihei cosats- will be studied, he said. A landing site on the windward coast at Kahului is not considered desireable because of roughter ocean conditions and because it is out of the way on the run from Honolulu to the Big Island via Maui.

Matsuda said the shore facilities for the proposed ferry system would be as simple as possible in order to hold down costs.

The facilities would include a pier or slip for the ferry, a passenger waiting area, a parking lot and an area for cars and trucks that will board the boat.

Maui is the only island, he said, which does not have a suitable existing facility for the ferry. Only minor alterations are expected to be made to existing docks at Honolulu, Nawiliwili on Kauai and Kawaihae on the Big Island.

The state, so far, has allocated less than $300,000 for use in prepairing landing sites for a ferry system.

Because of the current "economic squeeze", the state is reluctant to spend a great deal of money on ferry facilities until it is definite the system will come into being.

At the present time, three companies-Dillingham, Kentron, and Hawaiian Inter-Island Ferry-are working on separate proposals for an interisland system.

State Sen. John Hulten's Hawaiian Inter-Island Ferry appears the most advanced. He said last week that he expected to sign a contract by the end of this month for construction of the first $18 million ferry.

Hulten said his system could be in operation by about mid 1973.