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-p~Mty or yam` <br /> 4- ,4 <br /> COUNTY OF HAWAII STATE OF HAWAII <br /> ...»•w.M'~' <br /> •J~. <br /> RESOLUTION NO. <br /> <br /> A RESOLUTION REQUESTING A FEASIBILITY STUDY FOR THE CLOSURE AND <br /> <br /> REALIGNMENT OF THE HILO BAYFRONT HIGHWAY AND THE RESTORATION <br /> <br /> OF THE HILO BAYFRONT BEACH. <br /> WHEREAS, in its recreation profile for South Hilo, the County of Hawaii General Plan <br /> <br /> identifies as courses of action, the implementation of the "Environmental and Urban Design <br /> Proposals, East Hawaii Project, City of Hilo" and the "Downtown Hilo Redevelopment Plan" <br /> for the Kaiko`o and Bayfront areas, including elimination of the Bayfront Highway and widening <br /> and realigning of Kamehameha Avenue, and the expansion of coastal recreation areas; and <br /> WHEREAS, in its transportation profile for South Hilo, the County of Hawaii General <br /> Plan identifies as a course of action, a plan for the eventual closure of the Bayfront Highway and <br /> the relocation of the existing Highway 19-Pauahi Street intersection to an area in the vicinity of <br /> Ponahawai Street, in coordination with the State Department of Transportation; and <br /> WHEREAS, the "Envision Downtown Hilo 2025: ACommunity-Based Vision and <br /> Living Action Plan for Downtown Hilo" adopted by the Council of the County of Hawaii on <br /> <br /> November 22, 2005, also identifies the need for a study on the realignment of the Bayfront <br /> Highway to develop walking access from Downtown Hilo to Hilo Baytront, and the need to <br /> restore Hilo Bay to a clean and healthy state; and <br /> WHEREAS, the Bayfront Highway was originally built on the roadbed and bridges of an <br /> old railway line as part of recovery efforts after the 1946 tsunami ravaged Hawaii Island's <br /> northeast coast; and <br /> WHEREAS, the Bayfront Highway was envisioned to extend to the Hilo Wharf to <br /> complete a highway realignment project begun in 1951, with extension plans including afour- <br /> lane divided highway abandoned by the State Department of Transportation in 1978; and <br /> WHEREAS, the decline of the sugar industry in the latter half of the 1980s and its <br /> eventual demise in the 1990s has eliminated the need to divert heavy truck traffic from Hamakua <br /> sugar plantations to the Hilo Wharf along the Bayfront Highway; and <br /> WHEREAS, the Bayfront Highway is frequently closed to vehicular traffic during storm <br /> surges and high wave action; and <br /> <br />