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LEITHEAD TODD: Ki, what if we came up with some language that said, “If the County were to
<br />designate this as a one-way road, that then these improvements would not be required and the road
<br />widening would not be required?” Because it’s a short stretch, it’s open on two sides, it seems to
<br />me that, you know -. And obviously it would take some consultation with the neighbors but, you
<br />know, they are all going to face the same thing too over time, because I suspect that they are going
<br />to be in a similar situation as the Towata family has found itself that as time goes by and you want
<br />to try and, you know, keep the land in the family. And this is not very dense, you know, this is a
<br />half acre, right, 20,000 square feet, we are basically talking a half acre, which is twice as big as my
<br />yard is. So it just seems that maybe we need to have that possibility so that it’s not necessarily set
<br />in stone; if in fact the Council, you know, or Public Works makes an ultimate decision that this
<br />should be a one-way, that then these conditions for the road widening would drop off. Just a
<br />thought. If we had some language in there. I’m just looking for a way to try and preserve the
<br />character of the area.
<br />
<br />And I happen to live up in Kaūmana, and I’ve got, you know, Akolea Road, and the part that is one-
<br />lane is much safer to drive than the part where it’s two-lane and straight. And you would have
<br />opposition from the community to take out the bridge, which creates this kind of a hook, because
<br />that’s what slows the traffic down is the one-lane bridge that, and everybody’s got to stop, and
<br />people learn to be nice and stop and let the other people go. The section where we widened it to
<br />two lanes, it’s like a speedway through there, and for people who are pedestrians, they are really
<br />taking their life in hand when they go through that area. The older part of the road that’s skinnier
<br />and has the little hook to go over the one-lane bridge is much safer, and that ends up being the
<br />traffic calming.
<br />
<br />My concern is that widening this just destroys the character of the area and ends up also becoming a
<br />speedway, and then Public Works has to go in and put speed humps, like we’ve done on Haili.
<br />Haili Street in Hilo which is essentially wide enough for four lanes, and we’ve got multiple speed
<br />humps on it because people were racing through it, and they have sidewalks and yet people were
<br />concerned in that area over the speed at which people were coming through. So maybe in a long
<br />run, we may, if we can turn this into a one-way and preserve the character, we may be actually
<br />saving ourselves money because we won’t have to come back in with speed humps later on. But
<br />I’m just looking for some kind of a compromise or the potential for compromise, you know, that if
<br />we determine that it’s not absolutely necessary -. Because it’s one more house; one more house is
<br />not really increasing the traffic in this area substantially. So just a thought.
<br />
<br />GIFFIN: Ki, did you want to respond to the Director?
<br />
<br />EMLER: Yes, I would.
<br />
<br />GIFFIN: Okay, please.
<br />
<br />EMLER: Just that, as I said, I did give the one-way issue some consideration. Even if we did
<br />change it to one-way, having the pavement take that wider approach to Māmalahoa Highway at this
<br />end of the road would help facilitate whichever way we decided to make it one-way in order to
<br />make that turn. It really makes a difference which way you decide to make it one-way as to how
<br />usable the road is going to be. And this all will be part of argument, I’m sure, when the issue comes
<br />up to change it to one-way.
<br />
<br />GIFFIN: Sure.
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<br />EXHIBIT A
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