Highway 130 shoulder inbound to Pahoa lane is open

[lavalava]

They were actually ripping recent blacktop today and resurfacing the same stretch just as soon as it was ripped. Likely a drainage issue...

[Southernmost]

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?
[/quote]

Seems like it, hopefully somehow it gets better when it's completely finished.

Born&Raised Hawai'i Island

[kalakoa]

hopefully somehow it gets better when it's completely finished.

Yes -- two lanes to Pahoa will probably fix it.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Once the construction is complete to Shower Drive, the weekday afternoon congestion heading south should be about the same as before.

Nothing will then change until the next phase moves the merge to Maku'u Drive. This will finally reduce the total amount of traffic at the Maku'u merge because cars will leave the highway when they turn into HPP & Orchidland. But since that phase is on hold due to the June 27th lava flow, we now have multiple agencies who will determine when it can begin. In the meantime funds might dry up, or get transferred to other projects. We could be in for a much longer merge at Shower Drive than any of us could have imagined a few months ago.

On the bright side, Highway 130 is still open all the way from Keaau to Kalapana.

[ericlp]

wondering if they are still planning on putting a light a shower? If so, that could help a lot of HPP traffic onto shower and down into the subdivision. I would imagine that turning lane would be packed with cars in rush hour as not just HPP folks would be taking advantage of it. Hopefully, if they do get a light they can time it right (rush hour) to keep the turning lanes green for LONGER periods of time to keep the flow moving. The light at the school is a joke.



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[kalakoa]

a light a shower?

I believe that was part of the next phase, which is now on indefinite hold due to the ever-present threat of lava inundation.

help a lot of HPP traffic

Not having to Drive to Hilo for Everything would probably help too.

if they do get a light they can time it right

Unlikely -- it would be a State traffic light with timing configured by the experts at DOT who have never tried to commute from Hilo to Pahoa.

[bluesboy]

Just drove the road for the first time. Seems like it is exactly what they had before. Functionally it is no different. A two lane road with a part time northbound third lane open in the morning. I hope my assessment is wrong, because that would seem to be one of the biggest wastes of money I've ever seen.

If they could time the traffic signals in Hilo and elsewhere it would solve half the traffic problems. A software reconfiguration that would only take a few days (given the proper signaling hardware already in place) to solve a major problem. I'm sure it will never happen.

[Mindful]

The lights in Hilo are timed. They are pretty good during rush hour. Mornings, school time, it is rare I get stopped at a light from Walmart to Kens. Those lights are pretty good.

[Amrita]

Several have noted that the next phase to Maku'u is "now on indefinite hold due to the ever-present threat of lava inundation." Please explain the basis for this. Lava never threatened this section of 130 so it makes no sense to put it on hold and certainly even if lava crossed the road near Pahoa that does not mean a cut in traffic thru Kea'au section of 130. Who made this decision to put it on hold and is this a rumor or true? Mahalo.

[leilanidude]

The standard Hawaii DOT traffic engineers traffic light solution is not how any lights should be installed along this highway. Traffic lights cause more accidents than they prevent and needlessly waste fuel.

Since none of the intersections are 4-way, this is how they should do it.

Southbound traffic should not be stopped for any of the traffic leaving HPP. All of the roads out of HPP should have a right turn merge lane headed northbound. The traffic lights should only stop the northbound traffic, when a vehicle wants to turn left out of the HPP roads with a corresponding merge lane installed for those southbound vehicles.

Do just the opposite for the intersection at Orchidland, in this case, only stopping southbound highway traffic and allowing northbound traffic to continue unabated.

This solution should also be applied in front of the credit union. Stopping both sets of traffic so one car can pull out, is ridiculous. Another location is the 2 highway split by Keaau, which has no reason why traffic going from Hilo to Keaau/Volcano needs to stop.