12-14-2013, 09:43 AM
During the school year (which is 10 months out of the year) you can get to/from Hilo-Volcano in 45 minutes. If you do it in 30 minutes everybody and I mean everybody is speeding, school is out, and its a state/federal holiday. During the worst commuting hours on a regular day the one-way drive will be at least an hour, and some days up to 90 minutes. For somebody working in Hilo and commuting to Volcano, I would tell them to plan on spending up to 2+ hours per day in a commute. Its a beautiful commute and looks great but it does get old after awhile. And it will take a lot of expensive gas. The trip up the mountain is hard on your engine/transmission and the trip down the mountain is hard on your brakes. So factor gas/vehicle maintenance into your trips. You may spend as much money in transportation costs as you spend on your mortgage.