Highway 130 shoulder inbound to Pahoa lane is open

[steve1]

As of 3:06 PM there was striping on the left hand side of the zipper forcing drivers to merge right while the leading sign and big arrows in the right hand lane were suggesting people in the right hand lane merge left. One lane from thereon to Pahoa but the drive was better after you passed all the people and work trucks littering the shoulders. They even had a crew of 3 using handheld hoes to knock down weeds behind a guardrail. It's all about priorities....

[KeaauRich]

Today the sign says lanes will open Friday.

[Aaron S]

Nan has completed 1.4 miles of the 2.1 mile Phase 1. The balance of the project should be wrapped up by June 2015, although it could be finished sooner if the weather cooperates.

Phase 2, which includes the signalization of the Shower Drive intersection, should start in early 2016. However, this contingent on HELCO receiving timely approval from PUC for relocating their poles.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Aaron -
Do you know if the remaining .7 miles of Phase 1 is the section closest to Shower Drive?
It looks like the shoulder lane as you approach Shower Drive from Keaau (on the mauka side) is still on the narrow side.

[Mimosa]

It seems Logical that from the new and improved bridge to almost shower will be the final stage of this project in our perspective.We drove it today and it is much better than before but we can see where there will be drainage issues if we get the 50 year rains that happen every 7 years on average.
Mr and Mrs Mimosa

[Mimosa]

The Mauka side near shower is owned by a ohana that does not wish to let their road frontage get turned into the new part of the road.We believe it is in litigation on going and may be an eminent domain issue if it is not resolved soon.
Russel Ruder-man would know the details as this is his project via state elected office.
Russel - if you are looking at this thread,could you please enlighten all of your constituents please .
Mr and Mrs.Mimosa

[Aaron S]

quote:

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Originally posted by HereOnThePrimalEdge

Aaron -
Do you know if the remaining .7 miles of Phase 1 is the section closest to Shower Drive?
It looks like the shoulder lane as you approach Shower Drive from Keaau (on the mauka side) is still on the narrow side.

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It certainly sounds like the remaining .7 of mile of project is on the Shower Drive side based upon what you stated above.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Highway 130 from Keaau towards Shower Drive was unofficially open today as two lanes. There's going to be a bit of a learning curve.

At the old merge near the Humane Society, several highway workers indicated both lanes were open by waving us through, some drivers seemed confused as the lines on the road still indicated drivers should merge. Signs will probably be posted that say the shoulder lane is open from 3-6 PM, which may alleviate the problem in the future. The new merge is about halfway between the old merge and Shower Drive. At just after 4 PM it was backed up about the same as always at that time.

There must be some other changes in store however, as the flashing sign said the new section of highway would be open on Monday.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

In Rep. Joy San Buenaventura's March-April Newsletter which I received in the mail today she include a Highway 130 Update:

"Unfortunately, until the June 27th lava flow will no longer threaten HWY 130 no further improvement is likely."

[shockwave rider]

At 3:11 today traffic was at a standstill, 2 lanes of non moving cars all the way to the light at the high school. It took me 45 minutes to get from there to Shower, most of that time spent sitting. No wrecks visible on the side of the road and no cops slowing things down, The old merge was rarely this bad, did they spend all that time and money to not just move the problem down the road 2 miles, but instead actually made it worse?