Over a week after city and county officials announced the city’s metal Ha’iku Stairs would be removed, the Honolulu Police Department arrested seven people for trespassing.
The Ha’iku Stairs, also known colloquially as the “Stairway to Heaven,” were built during World War II, with the summit offering a panoramic view of the island of Oahu. The structure has been illegal to climb since 1987, city officials said.
The stairs have 3,922 steps across a roughly 2,800-foot trail in the Ko’olau mountain range, according to CNN.
However, hikers have flouted the ban repeatedly over the years, and on April 10 Honolulu officials announced that the stairs would be removed starting later in April. The Honolulu City Council previously voted to remove the stairs in 2021.
“The removal project prioritizes public safety, seeks to stop illegal trespassing on the stairs and nearby neighbors who have dealt with decades of disruptions and disturbances, addresses significant liability for the city, preserves the natural beauty and condition of the area and improves the quality of life for neighborhood residents,” city officials said in a statement.
As such, the stairs are now an active construction site that is “extremely dangerous,” officials said, and police have stepped up enforcement.
Over the weekend, police issued 60 warnings to people trying to ascend the stairs one last time. As of Thursday, 56 people had been issued citations and seven hikers had been arrested for trespassing, Honolulu police said.
The city says it is not responsible for what happens to trespassing hikers.
“It is a serious safety hazard for anyone to be trespassing on that stairway. [Honolulu] is not responsible for injuries sustained by thrill seekers who violate posted ‘No Trespassing’ signs and enter an active construction zone, where access is restricted to authorized personnel only,” a city spokesperson told news site SFGATE.
The aim is to have native plants grow over the places where the stairs once stood.
“Essentially, what we expect is the vegetation will come back and grow over to the point that hopefully you won’t even know that the stairs were there,” Honolulu Department of Design and Construction Director Haku Milles told KHON-TV.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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