HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0619.002 1998-2000 TESTIMONY IN OPPOSITION TO THE W.H.SHIPMAN REQUEST F(~F:
NEW TRAFFIC SIGNAL AND SEQUENCES -FEBRUARY 1, 2000
JON OLSON 13-631 Leilani Avenue, Pahoa, HI 96778, 965-6093
My name is Jon Olson, I reside in Leilani Estates, and I travel the
Keaau/Pahoa Road, Highway 130, from my home to Hilo, at least five tim;;s
a week in the course of business and community activities.
I strongly oppose the request of W. H. Shipman Company to add new signal
sequences on the newly constructed bypass section of the highway and I
direct your attention to the following calculations in regard to the remark ley
Shipman's planner, when he was quoted in the Hawaii Tribune Herald.
It was stated that the addition of two new signal sequences, left- turn and
through traffic, to accommodate W. H. Shipman's shopping center, would
only mean a delay of two minutes per trip for each driver traveling the roam.
A two-minute delay times 260 days per year is 520 minutes or 8.6 hours per
year, per vehicle.
Hawaii Police Department has told Puna Traffic Safety Council, and anyone
else who is interested, that there are an average of 600 vehicles per hour on
Highway 130, one way. That comes to 14,400 vehicles per day, times 8.6
hours, or 123,840 hours. That total, nearly 123,840, is the number of hours
the people currently using the highway will spend sitting in traffic, over the
course of a year, if they experience an additional two-minute delay.
The Texas Transportation Institute of Texas A&M University offered ~:he
following analysis in the Honolulu Advertiser on January 30`h: For every
hour sitting in traffic, a vehicle uses 1.55 gallons of gasoline.
If we multiply the 123,840 wasted hours by 1.55 gallons, we get 191,952
gallons of gasoline wasted in one year. At a cost of $1.65 per gallon, that
comes to $316,720.08.
RECEIVED
time"----"s-'^ By.
Dare
County CamdR
Comm. No. •
File No.
1?ef. 1'0:
Bab IJete. FEB 01 ZQ~
TESTIMONY OLSON P. 2
Now, let's look at those hours again and multiply, 1'23,840, by the minimum
wage, or $5.25. That total comes to $650,160 per year -and as Shipm2.n has
told us, they are using 1990 data. As oru population increases, these figures
will advance.
So, it seems Puna residents and tourists visiting Hawaii will spend close tc~
one million dollars in wasted fuel and time, so that W. H. Shipman
Company can be given special dispensation to put additional signal
sequences on the bypass road, a road which has just become drivable again.,
after years of delay. Shipman's planner evidently didn't coxmt the addi rion,~~l
number of hours for the required new constn~ction.
Another important factor in this request is the impact on traffic of the
Shipman proposal to sell acreage for the construction of Kamehameha
Schools, to be constructed on Highway 11, and which is expected to
accommodate 3,000 students. Any delay along Highway 11, at the
Kea'au/Pahoa intersection, for example, will impact the flow of traffic
towazd Kurtistown. The County Council should be viewing the Shipm~m
request in light of the total traffic pattern.
T Another point: It appears that approving Shipman's request for a new traffic
light would direct most of the Puna-Hilo bound traffic away from the
existing Kea'au Shopping Center in old Kea'au town. This appears to lie
Shipman's plan, if they have one. Sure Save and Ace Hardware, as well as
several newly constructed businesses, would suffer.
Daily travelers on Highway 130 are being asked to make a huge sacrifice sa
that Shipman enterprises won't have to follow the logical and cost-sav;.ng
plan of moving its driveway approximately 1,800 feet to the existing
intersection and traffic light at Shipman Park. This is what should be done.
Using the existing intersection may impede the flow of through traffic co
Volcano slightly, birt it will not change the above figures.
1 believe the cost to the community is far too high to justify this requesr..
I ur e you turn it down.
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