12-17-2017, 07:02 AM
Until and unless a route makai of the current highway is part of the state DOT master plan, there will be no state or federal funding for it.
Punaperson is right about the county not having the bucks, and they wouldn't spend it on Puna even if they did. It is not currently in the master plan, and the last word from the DOT was, "When we finish the improvements to 130, we may consider that." Oh, and while Punaperson is certainly correct about it needing to be outside the tsunami zone, I would also add that it ideally needs to be free of any burials and/or cultural sites.
And then there is the soon to be declared sacred status of any connection to, passage over, or usurpation of the "private" HPP roads. How could HPP's roads be sacred? Because anything that such a large number of people could bicker over, ruminate upon, and become livid nearly to the point of violence for almost 60 years will certainly be given religious status long before any alternate route is built. It will be a "cultural tradition" at the very least by that time.
Punaperson is right about the county not having the bucks, and they wouldn't spend it on Puna even if they did. It is not currently in the master plan, and the last word from the DOT was, "When we finish the improvements to 130, we may consider that." Oh, and while Punaperson is certainly correct about it needing to be outside the tsunami zone, I would also add that it ideally needs to be free of any burials and/or cultural sites.
And then there is the soon to be declared sacred status of any connection to, passage over, or usurpation of the "private" HPP roads. How could HPP's roads be sacred? Because anything that such a large number of people could bicker over, ruminate upon, and become livid nearly to the point of violence for almost 60 years will certainly be given religious status long before any alternate route is built. It will be a "cultural tradition" at the very least by that time.