To the surprise of some Maui government officials, the state Department of Transportation has placed on hold its nearly $60 million long-awaited access road and parking lot expansion for the Kahului Airport until sometime next year.

Construction was to begin before the end of this year, providing dozens of good-paying jobs well into 2012, said state House Transportation Committee Chairman Rep. Joe Souki, whose district includes Wailuku.

The airport access road is a bypass that connects Kuihelani and Mokulele highways to the airport via an access road that now dead ends at the Home Depot and runs parallel to congested Dairy Road.

When complete, the access road will allow motorists to drive almost directly from either highway to the airport without traveling on Dairy Road. The plans call for the access road to cross Hana Highway, which will require a new stoplight.

DOT Director Brennon Morioka said that the state chose in September 2008 not to float $430 million in airport revenue bonds to fund the work, and other similar capital improvement projects statewide, because of the poor economic climate at the time. The result would have left taxpayers open to high-than-usual interest rates on the bond debt, he said.