Hotels for Heroes makes changes as demand increases
HONOLULU — A program providing free hotel rooms to health workers responding to the coronavirus pandemic was modified after the demand exceeded the number of available rooms.
More than 870 room nights have been reserved through the Hotels for Heroes program.
The overwhelming demand forced organizers to make changes including limiting workers to seven-day reservations.
Hotels for Heroes was established to use extra hotel rooms while helping financially support the visitor industry and the community.
Hotels on Kauai, Maui, Hawaii Island and Oahu with approved reservations are compensated $85 per room per night from state tourism funds. The program was developed by the Hawaii Tourism Authority, the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau and the Hawaii Lodging &Tourism Association.
The program does not accept health workers who tested positive for COVID-19 or who were required to quarantine.
Hotels have been generous with their space, but organizers had to set limits after the demand “outstripped supply,” said Hilton Raethel, president and CEO of the Healthcare Association of Hawaii.
Highway overpass plans push back school opening
WAILUKU, Maui — Plans to build a Maui highway overpass are delaying the anticipated completion date of a high school construction project.
The Piilani Highway overpass is expected to extend the Kihei High School development past the 2021-22 school year.
The school on Maui’s western shore was initially targeted to open in 2014. The overpass or underpass of the highway was a condition set by the state Land Use Commission when it approved the project in 2013.
Commissioners and community members expressed concerned about the safety of children crossing the multiple-lane highway.
The state Transportation Department decided to install a traffic signal, pointing to studies that showed current conditions warranted a signalized intersection. But the commission voted last year to reaffirm the 2013 decision calling for a pedestrian overpass or underpass to be completed before the school’s opening.
The transportation agency’s timeline submitted to Maui County Planning Director Michele McLean indicated completion of the overpass project in June 2023 with a highway closure and bypass during the yearlong construction process.
Land Board and county council approvals for the high school called for the overpass or underpass “to be constructed not just designed,” McLean said.