If traffic were increased, says Noland-Gates, tourists would be driving off the cliffs. It's a scary road. She tells them it will be OK, if they take it slow. They will have to. Parts of the county road are marked 5 mph, and the fast sections are 15 mph.
Many places are so narrow that if two cars meet head on, one has to back up.
Along some of the most narrow stretches, Kahakuloa residents say the road can't be widened because any cuts into the cliffside will be breaking into Hawaiian burials. She said it might be a good idea to make the road wider toward Lahaina. But the scariest section a long, steep, unguarded, narrow section of county road on the Lahaina side of Kahakuloa village is the section most likely to have burials and other cultural sites. As Noland-Gates spoke, from her porch she could see a white rental car venture a short way down the scary slope. The driver evidently got the heebie-jeebies, because he stopped and spent several minutes backing and forwarding so he could reverse direction and flee for the safety of wide, smooth pavement.