Malama O Puna House District 4 Forum on Thursday

[peteadams]

pahoated wrote: "Why is it so many people obsess over this and fail to mention the roundabout is going into the wrong intersection, that it should be at the top of Kahakai, a proper 4-way for a roundabout, and by putting the roundabout there, the infamous T-section is removed? Oh well. That's the motto in Puna.”

I was also astonished that DOT placed the roundabout in the Pahoa Marketplace intersection rather than the Kahakai intersection. It just does not seem to make any sense. The old Kahakai road intersecting the village road is perfectly aligned for a roundabout with Hwy 130. IIRC Senator Ruderman stated in an earlier Punaweb thread that the DOT described to him why they chose that the Marketplace intersection for the roundabout. Unfortunately the Senator never followed up to actually explain DOT’s position. Maybe he could do that?

[kalakoa]

It just does not seem to make any sense.

Having allowed the construction of "the restaurant formerly known as KFC" and granted commercial zoning across the street, there is now no room for the roundabout to go where it belongs.

I would go the other way: enlarge the roundabout until Long's, BK, KFC, and Paul's are all inside, then the new mall, old mall, "third mall" (papers have yet to be pulled), Kahakai, and 130 all connect directly.

At the rate State is going, some developer will probably manage to encroach further, so the roudabout will never be built -- assuming it's even scheduled now.