Oprah Winfrey's "Secret Road"

Well, not THAT secret. If one considers that you can see the road on Google Maps.

4 Miles long, 12 feet wide, a mix of Concrete & Asphalt, and has basic drainage trappings. It "links" Oprah's Ulapalakua estate in Upcountry Maui to the Kihei/Wailea area. Which seems cool till you find out that......Maui folks have been demanding such a road for nearly 4 decades now or so. Why she built the road (which is actually improved ranch roads that already existed in some form or another beforehand) is anyone's guess. Most of the more high end restaurants and accommodations on Maui are located in the resort areas of Wailea and Makena. Maybe she needs a route to hawk her organically grown veggies to the resorts below.

Of course, you can still find and "see" the road, but it's abit of a pain. The road is "tucked" into other roads, and is not visible to normal daily traffic.

The "Upcountry Gate" is down a steep road and blocked by gates. You have to find the Sun Yat Sen Park (near supposedly where Sen had a house on Maui before the whole Revolutionary thing in China some years afterwards).

You then have to go downhill on the "Dead End" road till you hit these gates to see the start/exit of the road. Heres some tourists that visited the top part of the road.

The "Kihei Gate" of the road is actually up a bit from the Piilani Highway, but you can see where Oprah has to come out and join regular peon traffic.

Then again, how she does a left turn is a bit of a head scratchier when traffic is heavy, or you don't want people knowing when your coming or going.

How the road is is also a head scratcher. While there is acknowledgement the road will be used by unauthorized users according to the Maui Feed Article:

It's hard to monitor the road," Starr said. "There's some concern about the general public. It's kind of a double-edged sword because the road is very attractive to skateboards and joggers. We have definite security issues."

...one has to wonder if Oprah is savvy enough to allow some limited traipsing if the money is right (Mini Rally anyone?). Oh, wait, bro trucks already ruined it for us probably:

I knew several people who had the keys to the gates, but idiots had to drive their lifted trucks that they never take 4-wheel driving, (try to look like they do but wouldn't know how to) and purposely ran into farmers fences, destroying private property, ramming fences, ruining it for everybody else, so it's their fault not Oprah's. A couple jerks always ruin it for everybody else. Pilau Lolo's!

Photos by me, top image from the first linked Youtube Video.