05-13-2009, 03:58 AM
I like the idea of a parkway ... but if we zoom out a bit and look at the bigger issue...
The traffic issues present themselves morning and night, run the same route at three pm and it’s wide open.
Roads still follow the decentralized urban sprawl model. Why not move the jobs to where the people live in small decentralized clusters.
Other solutions like limiting commercial office hours to 8-5 and big box retail 12-9 to manage the traffic patterns until parkways can be built. Very simple social solutions that will have a huge impact without pouring a bucket of concrete.
Or make the development that drives the traffic pay for the new parkways / roadways as they come in.
Development without support of and an assessment of the effects on infrastructure - schools, public places and roads always seems to impact the community negatively. I think there is more to it than just building more roads if we want to sustain our unique quality of live. I hope Puna does not become another California like asphalt parking lot full of "Commuters". That’s certainly not my idea of planning or Hawaii.