The state needs more input on the widening of Kahekili Highway. But ask Kaneohe resident Kenneth LeVasseur about it, and he’ll tell you it’s about keeping the country country.

"There are benefits to having the current situation, and having a country road is a safety factor," said LeVasseur, transportation chairman of the Kahaluu Neighborhood Board. "The biggest problems and accidents we have on our roads out here are on the ones that are widened."

The state Department of Transportation will hold two community planning meetings at Windward Community College early next month. The agency wants to know whether construction is needed for the two-lane thoroughfare from Haiku Road to the Hygienic Store in Kahaluu.

An environmental impact statement in 1990 proposed widening the highway due to "considerable population growth" in the Windward region, which has led to more congestion.

Because the project hasn’t seen any action in more than three years, the National Environmental Protection Act requires the state to seek renewed input on the plan. Next month’s meetings are to re-evaluate the 21-year-old document and see whether its findings are still valid.

"If not, a supplemental EIS or an (environmental assessment) may be necessary," state Department of Transportation spokesman Dan Meisenzahl said. "A full EIS from scratch is not likely to be required again."

The EIS re-evaluation should be done by the end of this year, and any major work won’t begin until sometime 2014 or 2015.

The state also sent out 4,750 surveys to households near the area, and received 1,400 back, said state DOT project manager Darrell Young. The results of the survey have not yet been finalized.

The state has no preference on what to do with the highway, Young said.

"Right now we’re looking at the purpose and need of the project, see if anything’s changed from 21 years ago, and also looking at other alternatives," Young said.

The highway was built in 1966 by the city. Although it is only two lanes, a 120-foot right-of-way area was built in anticipation of widening projects.

In 1990 for the first EIS, the H-3 freeway was being built but was not yet finished. During morning rush-hour traffic, a car could spend as much as 24 minutes on Kahekili Highway, according to the state.

Other alternatives the state is considering include contra-flow lanes, pedestrian or bicycle facilities, additional mass-transit services and turn lanes.

LeVasseur, who also serves on the citizens advisory committee for the Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization, said the state should consider a passing lane near the Haiku Road intersection.

LeVasseur said many residents want to keep the character of the area.

"There are people who move out to Hawaii because it’s pretty suburbia," Le-Vasseur said. "They like the country being country."

LeVasseur said roads that have been widened, like Waihee Road in Kaneohe, have had more accidents.

"The narrow roads, people don’t speed, because you can’t see," LeVasseur said. "It’s intuitive for speed racers that these are not places to speed."

Widening the highway is a "dinosaur" way of solving traffic congestion, he said. LeVasseur added he’s seen reports that the Windward area’s population might drop.

According to the latest figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, Kaneohe saw a 1.1 percent drop in population from 2000 to 2010.

"If you widen the road, you encourage more development," he said. "If you encourage more development, you create more congestion. It will be a vicious cycle."

Correction: The portion of Kahekili Highway that may be widened runs from Haiku Road to the Hygienic Store in Kahaluu, not from Haiku Road to Likelike Highway.