08-12-2008, 10:57 AM
With all due respect -- you guys are ignoring the facts about the tourist influx onto 130. 5000 visitors a day?
I talk to a lot of visitors and I can tell you
They are not going to stay away because the road is inadequate
they are not even going to learn anything about the road before heading out. Most are doing good to get a map showing the correct route.
They are not going to carpool, take mass transit, bicycle, or do anything but get in the car and drive the roads, and they have every right to do so!
Until Pele shuts off the flow through Royal Gardens, get used to a whole lot more new cars on 130 during rush hour ... because most visitors will be coming down from the VNP or Hilo in the late afternoon.
It may sound like I'm being harsh, but I feel like so many of you are extremely caught up in your own environmentally sound perspective, and caught up in thinking of Puna as a place that can define itself and control growth. But one little flip of the vent switch and Puna is literally the hottest tourist zone for a hit and run drive-by on the whole island.
People are planning day trips on vacations where they were really going to Maui or Waikiki, for example, just to drive down 130 and see lava.
They do not care about the price of gas. They paid thousands of dollars to come see the volcano! They can handle the gas price.
I talk to a lot of visitors and I can tell you
They are not going to stay away because the road is inadequate
they are not even going to learn anything about the road before heading out. Most are doing good to get a map showing the correct route.
They are not going to carpool, take mass transit, bicycle, or do anything but get in the car and drive the roads, and they have every right to do so!
Until Pele shuts off the flow through Royal Gardens, get used to a whole lot more new cars on 130 during rush hour ... because most visitors will be coming down from the VNP or Hilo in the late afternoon.
It may sound like I'm being harsh, but I feel like so many of you are extremely caught up in your own environmentally sound perspective, and caught up in thinking of Puna as a place that can define itself and control growth. But one little flip of the vent switch and Puna is literally the hottest tourist zone for a hit and run drive-by on the whole island.
People are planning day trips on vacations where they were really going to Maui or Waikiki, for example, just to drive down 130 and see lava.
They do not care about the price of gas. They paid thousands of dollars to come see the volcano! They can handle the gas price.