The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded the state two grants totaling more than $5.2 million to address a pair of vulnerable areas along Kamehameha Highway, U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, announced on Tuesday.

What You Need To Know

  • The funding comes via USDOT’s Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient and Cost-Saving Transportation Discretional Grant Program, which was established by the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law

  • The grants will be used to install a coastal barrier to prevent erosion in Kaaawa and to replace existing fencing to protect Kamehameha Highway from rockfall in Pupukea

  • The PROTECT grant program was created to help make surface transportation across the county more resilient to natural hazards, including climate change, sea-level rise, flooding, extreme weather events and other natural disasters through support of planning activities, resilience improvements, community resilience and evacuation routes and at-risk coastal infrastructure

  • Last month, the state land board approved a $5 million project to build a 400-foot rock revetment along the stretch of Kamehameha Highway between Kaaawa Beach Park and Kaaawa Elementary School

The funding comes via USDOT’s Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient and Cost-Saving Transportation Discretional Grant Program, which was established by the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

The grants will be used to install a coastal barrier to prevent erosion in Kaaawa and to replace existing fencing to protect Kamehameha Highway from rockfall in Pupukea.

“Thousands of people on Oahu rely on Kamehameha Highway every day to get to where they need to go, whether that’s school or work,” Schatz said in a statement released on Tuesday. “But rockfalls and erosion can cause disruptive traffic delays and can be dangerous. This new funding will help strengthen Kamehameha Highway so that we can prevent these kinds of events and keep people safe.

Schatz serves as chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation.

The PROTECT grant program was created to help make surface transportation across the county more resilient to natural hazards, including climate change, sea-level rise, flooding, extreme weather events and other natural disasters through support of planning activities, resilience improvements, community resilience and evacuation routes and at-risk coastal infrastructure.

Available funding through the program increased to $300 million from $250 million this year.

Last month, the state land board approved a $5 million project to build a 400-foot rock revetment along the stretch of Kamehameha Highway between Kaaawa Beach Park and Kaaawa Elementary School.