Paia was founded in 1880 as the site of a Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar mill (owned by Alexander & Baldwin) and siding of the Kahului Railroad. The community of Paia lies at the junction of Hawaii Route 36/Hana Highway and Maui County Route 390. The frequent influx of traffic from tourism on Hana Highway and in Paia has become a source of traffic bottlenecks for commuters bound for Makawao on Maui County Route 390.
The Paia Mini-Bypass was constructed on lands owned by Alexander & Baldwin and opened to public traffic between 3 PM-6:30 PM Monday through Saturday via a licensing agreement with Maui County, Maui Police and the Hawaii Department of Transportation in 2006. The hours for public use of the Paia-Mini Bypass were eventually extended to 1 PM-6:30 PM. During May 2011 an agreement was reached to extend public use of the Paia-Mini Bypass to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The current 24-hour status of the Paia-Mini Bypass began on May 12, 2011, according to Maui Now.
According to hawaiihighways.com, the Paia-Mini Bypass is maintained by the Hawaii Department of Transportation as unsigned Hawaii Route 3600. Use of the Paia-Mini Bypass as a State maintained facility is intended to be temporary until a permanent bypass of Paia can be constructed.
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