When, not If lava crosses 130...

[jackson]

Seriously? You moved to Puna without realizing its unique character?
And Csgray - It's hard to believe she didn't know until what you said about her husband not telling her. Surprise, Honey!

[csgray]

She was from Thailand, he was from the mainland, and it seemed like he called all the shots, not telling her about the volcano was par for the course from what we saw. Their house in Ainaloa that he built was on the market before he finished. She was very nice and he wasn't; the guy insisted on wearing work boots inside the house right over our bedroom, and made 4 AM cell calls to the mainland right outside our bedroom window!

Carol

[Wao nahele kane]

Before the 1980's flows how many routes existed in and out of lower Puna? The Beach Road route? The Chain of Craters route? Railroad avenue Route? 130 route? Now we have only the 130 route. Contemplate this, in a full powered County that was previously merely a region within a territory of the United States, it's population within this now District grows as it's number of ingress and egress routes decreases... what part of that is not @ss backwards? Think about that very carefully and ask yourself how the heck that happened.

The plan to punch the road back to chain of craters roads is a great last ditch plan and probably derived in the 1980's but lets say the following occurs today (here today in 2014 or in 6 years from now in 2020 with an even larger population).
Lava approaches 130 within 2 miles, the county punches a road back to the chain of craters road, the lava crosses 130. The modern day population level in lower Puna begin to use the new chain of craters road connector... that's a huge number of people and lets not forget they are currently widening 130 to accommodate all those people who weren't here in the 1980's. Now the South East Flank of Puu' O' o cuts loose and rapidly heads for the ocean across the newly cut chain of craters connector... ooops! While all the while, Lava hadn't reached the old beach road location yet... now what?

Why not make the chain of craters road connector only a last ditch effort and in the interim reconnect lower Puna to Hilo Via the old beach road as it had been for hundreds of years prior to the County adopting the helm? Reconnecting Puna along the old Beach road to Hilo again would also allow the people who had purchased lots along that stretch between HPP and the Beaches to regain access to the lots they own that the County was supposed to be providing road services for (what ever happened to that? Why have all these prior routes been abandon when the population was increasing?).

The section of the beach road that goes by the beach at Shipmans can be left alone if the Shipmans donate an alternate route that connects back up to the old beach road at the northerly side of their land.

- Armed citizens provide security of a free State.

[VancouverIslander]

And while lower Puna is having traffic problems due to a lack of roads, the area around Hwy 11 and S. Kulani has been repaved continuously for about three years (leading to congestion in Upper Puna). I'm sure they've repaved that stretch every year.

[wax]

Beach road north of HPP is part of the State trail system. It was abandoned as a road more than 100 years ago. Railroad was built by the railroad system and north of HPP was never an access in or out of lower Puna. It was one of the cane haul roads for Puna Sugar when the rr went under.

You have to ask yourself where lava would cut access. There are many spots from two miles Keaau side of Pahoa to Kalapana but none likely from that spot to Keaau. So where do you need the extra roads? Generally in and around Pahoa. The new four lane 130 would be enough to get people out past Pahoa or at most Makuu. But then you don't need to evacuate past that point anyway.

The issue is inter connectivity within Puna itself, not getting people to Hilo.

[Wao nahele kane]

A couple connectors between the beaches/shores and HPP should suffice and would be far better than doing nothing at all. Old government beach road through Waa Waa would also become heavily used. So addressing those points would be fairly easy and likely buy the County valuable preparations time in such an event.

- Armed citizens provide security of a free State.

[Wao nahele kane]

If looking at it from cost and most effective position in relation to lava flows. A completed paved road from Kapoho 4 corners though Old Government Beach Road (OGBR) to Puna Coastal Parkway and into HPP would buy the greatest amount of planning and preparations time and be the most cost effective route. A great deal of the road is already in place and merely lacks between HPP and Puna Coastal Highway and a short diversion off the current route of OGBR to Papio diverted to the Puna Coastal Parkway.

That's something that should have been done within a decade after the 1980's flow and the County is now on borrowed time in that regard. Everyone's damn lucky that upper 130 lava crossing hasn't happened yet.

- Armed citizens provide security of a free State.

[ericlp]

Lucky ? Maybe...Maybe not. What if it happens 10 years from now after Puna has grown over 20X than what it is now?

Maybe we should be unlucky it hasn't happened sooner? Instead of lucky to be happening later. Whatever the case. When it does happen it's anyone's guess (when that might be) and I don't think luck has anything to do with it. The great thing is Pele will choose our fate.

I often wonder how many people live in Puna that access highway 130? Say from HPP/Orchidland All the way down to Seaview. Anyway care to guess how many people even with the growth recently?

Can you imagine all those people looking for a new home rushing to Hilo? Gasp... Crazy and scary. I hope the county does have some sort of plan.

[kalakoa]

quote:

---

Lava approaches 130 within 2 miles, the county punches a road back to the chain of craters road...

---

Which is kinda-sorta one of my points: County will wait until the last minute, either because they hope the destruction will solve (part of) the problem, or because they will suddenly be entitled to "emergency" funding (and property seizure, if necessary).

After all, everything is just fine today, right? Highway 130 never shuts down for any other reason...

[bluesboy]

pahoated - your understanding of the volcano and how it works is severely confused. first off, what you are referring to are rift zones - not lava tubes. that would be like referring to an interstate as a foot trail - they are two totally different things with different reasons they exist and different methods of how they were emplaced.