HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0609.079 2022-2024 P /Cw0nc
Sill 107
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• COUNTY Qr u AWA
Office of the County Clerk
25 Aupuni Street 2024 JAN q MI 8: 6
Hilo, HI 96740
11 January 2023
RE: Written Testimony for Bill 107
I vividly remember the last major traffic accident on Highway 130. We left our
home in HPP headed north for breakfast at 7:30 that morning, turned left from Maku'u
onto the road, got as far as the turnoff for Orchidland, and stopped. We didn't move for 20
minutes. We eventually started to creep forward, taking 40 minutes to cross past Shower
Drive. By the time we passed the actual scene of the accident it was 9:30. On the way in
to Hilo, my wife and I asked ourselves, "What would this have been like in May of 2018
when Fissure 8 erupted? And what will it be like when it happens again, this time in
Ainaloa or Ocean View or HPP or Nanawale Estates or Hawaiian Shores Estates or
Mountain View?
The only viable, reality-based answer we could imagine was: "People will die."
And not from the volcanic eruption either: from mass evacuation gridlock that denies
people fresh water, food and movement; that causes dangerous tempers to flare and incite
crime.That prevents emergency services vehicles from getting to the places that they need
to be.To block paramedics and ambulances from attending to the injured and transporting
them to medical facilities.
Of all the places on the eastern side of the Big Island where the actual majority of
people live, the Puna district is far and away the most potentially dangerous place on this
island to work, commute and live, not from natural disasters or accidents but from
politicians either with no local understanding of the risks their constituents face on a daily
basis because of external influences, budgetary infighting, lobbied priorities or just plain
intransigent stupidity.
It absolutely boggled my mind when I learned that Bill 107 - the Puna Makai
Alternate Route Study - was in danger of dying. Was anybody currently serving as council
members living on this island between May 5th and September 10th of 2018? Did any of
them have people who were affected by the eruption? Or does anyone on the council
commute from the Puna District to Hilo between 6:00 and 10:00 AM or quit work and go
home between 2:25 and 6:00 PM? It should be blatantly obvious that something about the
roadway congestion needs to be done immediately or within 3 years we won't need a
natural disaster to create nearly permanent gridlock.
If the Shipman people won't relent and allow at least some development of
Railroad Avenue heading south, then at least consider an alternative route that veers
several miles west of 130 that ties into the Keaau bypass. Sure, morning commuter traffic
from Mountain View will still be massive, but at least there will still be some kind of
movement.
Please do not kick this proverbial can down the road - another route to support the
Puna district population is NOT a luxury or a "gimme" - it's a matter of Civil Defense.
Thank you.
Comm.
Clan A. McKerral Ref. To
Hawaiian Paradise Park Ref. Date AAN 2 4 2024