HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0619.009 1998-2000 THE NEW "KEAA'U BOTTLENECK
Are you concerned with traffic in the Keaa'u area? If so, you are not alone. !V~Ii9rt the
State of Hawaii did the study to determine whether or not to build a "Bx a s" road tr f is
congestion was the biggest problem identified by Puna residents. It stiW~s~ ~ Ja~t. ~~e y 2 5
Hawaii Tribune-Heralds front page headline was "Keaa'u traffic gets an F",,ti~sciibing 4S
minute waits around the new elementry school. Poor design of the acces~.a`Ft~d, lpcation _
make it impossible to get all the kids picked up in a safe and timely manner ` " I ~ :I
Coming up is a whole new problem. Shipman wants to develop a new shopping center
on the mauka side of the big intersection were the Bypass Road meets the Volcano
Highway. That's right, at the bottom of the hill, on the curve, right where nobody wants
to stop. Everbody will have to. Anybody who drives this road knows that people are
going at high speeds in this area, in fact, anyone who has used the Bypass road coming
into Hilo from Pahoa knows that this is a high speed intersection. The State has
appazently agreed to let Shipman have this access for their shopping center, which means
a 4-way traffic signal, and a Pedestrian cross-walk. That intersection will be the biggest
one on the island, about 160 feet to cross it. The wait times for everbody to turn left in
each direction will make it a longer light than Wailoa Bridge @ Suisan, the Borders light
neaz Wal-Mart on Makaala St., and the Puainako intersection @KTA and the Mall. It
will be very dangerous, especially given the schools in the area. I can imagine high
school kids pulling over on the shoulder of the Bypass, on their way to Hilo, dropping off
their friends on the right side of the road, and then those kids running across the highway.
I can also imagine when somebody plows into somebody else in the middle of this
intersection. Gridlock! Traffic will back up all the way to KTA. It happened this past
summer during construction, and that was with one lane open all the time.
The new shopping center, called Keaa'u Gateways, is obviously designed to control the
"market" of Puna shoppers. Everbody in Puna must pass this spot every time they enter
and leave Puna. That's why it's called a Gateway. It is also a "chokehold".
This really disturbs me, 1 live in Volcano and this will affect me every day of my life.
The County Council will vote on this on Tuesday , Feb. 2 at 2:00 p.m. Be there if you
care.
David Miranda, Volcano
~,~„-z-.01~~ti-4-.,, c!r--
9! ~~53
Comm. No. ~
" D
File No.
I.ef. To:_
l~~r, i~nt~ C=EB o a 2000