Puna Makai Route “Soon”

[Punatang]

Kinda scary to visualize a "classic Puna beater/cruiser" in this Puna Makai route in the sky. Hopefully they will sell tie dye parachutes at Jungle Love.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

If the flying cars have remote kill switches, it would put those in the car theft business into retirement pretty fast.  I’d suggest the switch automatically plays “Another One Bites The Dust” for the thieves (brief) musical enjoyment.

[TomK]

Cars will all be plug in electric....extension cord length to be determined by your tax status

By the time we've invented flying electric cars, we will have also made superconducting bungee cord. You fly the car to wherever you want to go, land, and have it clamped in place, and you get a free return trip by releasing the clamp. You'll find that it will get rid of a lot of the stupid drivers/flyers very quickly.

I would advise not parking your flying vehicle directly behind another one.

[HiloJulie]

As they say; “Don’t hold your breath!”

https://bigislandnow.com/2024/01/13/coun...ute-study/

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

From HiloJulie’s link above:

Members of the Hawaiian homestead communities of Panaʻewa and Keaukaha and the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands are concerned about possible impacts of a new road, and don’t want any alternate routes going through Hawaiian homelands.

Can’t argue with that.  Although once they look at and reject the other routes that also impact the communities they would transverse, or empty property owned by wealthy land barons (or land ali’i) they might let us know what’s left for our consideration.

Hilo Councilwoman Sue Lee Loy, who represents the Panaʻewa and Keaukaha areas, said no community throughout the country has ever solved traffic problems by building another road. When she looks at the money for the study, she sees it as an opportunity to explore other alternatives.

I can argue with that.  No road ever solved traffic congestion?  Throughout the entire United States?  Has she grown but never flown?
The council wants to delay action for various reasons, some of which we can only hope and assume will include alternative routes like flying car corridors and seaglider ports along the Puna coast.

[Punatang]

New Puna Makai Route solved. Real, real Makai: https://www.khon2.com/local-news/hawaii-...-floating/

[AaronS]

The Hawaii County Council rejected accepting the PMAR study funding today 7-2 - even though the adjoining resolution
416 passed. Resolution 416 urged the DPW to not include DHHL lands in the study area. This is the e-mail I sent to county
council after finding out about the outcome of the vote:

"Aloha,

I'm very disappointed the Hawaii County Council rejected the PMAR study funding that was appropriated by the
state legislature.back in 2021. The concerns about Bill 107 should've been addressed by resolution
416, which ironically passed, urging the DPW not to include DHHL areas lands in the study area.

The testimony I read opposed to Bill 107 largely didn't want an outright rejection of the funding, but assurances
HHL areas won't be included in the study. This makes the rejection of this funding even more perplexing. As
as a result of this action, the state legislature likely won't provide funding for this study in the future and take
a long hard look at other funding requests by Hawaii County.

This shortsighted decision gives the county a black eye as far as the state legislature. They're going to ask
questions why the council rejected this appropriation - even after they passed a resolution that addressed
the concerns about accepting the funding. 

The more immediate concern is the growing traffic congestion in the Puna district.  This issue won't go away  if the county 
continues to put their head in the sand.

The residents of Puna deserve answers why seven council members rejected accepting this funding.

Sincerely,
Aaron Stene"

[kalakoa]

It's not as if the PMAR was ever going to be built. Accepting the funding would have been a waste of time and money.

[ChunksterK]

There's a good article about the latest PMAR setback by Kevin Dayton on Civil Beat:

https://www.civilbeat.org/2024/01/big-is...ief-route/

Be sure to read the comments as some good points are raised there.

As for Puna's potentially disastrous traffic problems, our best bet at this point may be to focus on getting Highway 130 fully expanded to four lanes as far as Pahoa. At least that is in the DOT Master Plan and has been funded, although the bureaucrats keep stalling by calling a moratorium on expansion projects in favor of "safety enhancements." They don't seem to understand that trapping people on an active volcano is a major safety problem in and of itself. And yes, I know that it would only take a few extra minutes for a lava flow to block an expanded 130, but at least there would be better access until that happened.

Ultimately, it may take a horrific incident and/or massive class action suit to get anything done. A large majority of politicians and bureaucrats at both the state and county level literally do not give a damn about Puna.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Aaron - thanks for posting your letter
Chunkster - thanks for the Civil Beat link

From Civil Beat:
Hilo resident ———- ——- described the PMAR plan as “an act of colonialism and racism” that pits Hawaiians in Puna against Hawaiians in the Hilo area. “That is not pono,” she said.

OK.
Wasn’t it the colonial oppressors who established DHHL in 1921?

Didn't the Puna branch of the Hawaii Consolidated Railroad (the railroad in Railroad Ave) complete construction between 1900-1902?  Before DHHL existed?

When the railroad was abandoned, how did the current owners take possession of the right of way?  Handshake?  $1 sale?

Hypothetically, if Shipman was agreeable, couldn’t the entire alternate highway avoid Hilo DHHL land by reconnecting with Hwy 11 near or even after Macadania Nut Road?  Then merge into Hwy 11 and continue into Hilo with 3 lanes?  For southbound traffic there are already 4 stop and go lights that could provide left turn lanes to the new alternate route in and around Keaau town. 

DHHL land isn’t required for the project.  There’s no plausible reason for DHHL property owners and their council people to block the study.  Other than what, spite?