Whats the biggest change in Puna since 1978?

[jackson]

I was here and there then. Many, many times I drove from Volcano to Kalapana going through the park. That road was there as long as I remember, fro mar least 1979 to sometime in the mid to late 80s. I think there are archive pictures of it on Google Earth.

[bluesboy]

chain of craters road was covered by two different eruptions - Mauna Ulu between 1969-1974 and Puu Oo between 1983 - present. Those are the eruption dates. I'm not sure when flows within those eruptions actually covered the road.

It sounds like the road was opened in 1959, covered around 1970, reopened after Mauna Ulu, covered again by Puu Oo, and never reopened since then.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Given that the Chain of Craters Road has come and gone over the years due to lava flows, hopefully the county will reopen it again at some point in the future.

Now, if only we can get Carol reinstated as the Empress of the Known Universe for a second reign, and a new, expansive black sand Kaimu Beach, we'd be well on our way to a new golden era here on the Big Island.

[csgray]

If I was reinstated as Empress of the Known Universe, Puna would have the best beaches in the world, plus great snorkeling and killer surf breaks! Also no fire ants and only 25 coqui frogs per acre.

I know it is probably sacrilege, but I do fantasize about what a good job a little dynamite could do at creating a swimming hole where the old beach park was in Kalapana, sort of a man made Kapoho without all the cesspools. I think it comes from a childhood spent swimming in old limestone quarries that were amazing swimming holes, and we really do need a safe clean place to swim here.

Carol

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Empress -
To combine two threads (and in lieu of dynamite) may I propose:

Uncle Robert's Unplugged Full Moon Rock Night
Acoustic music at the ocean's edge, dancing with sledgehammers (quieter than dynamite).
Lava into sand, the slow way.
Might not work for a pool, but could speed up beach development.

[james weatherford]

quote:

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Originally posted by csgray

Let's see, do we believe a long time resident who was a journalist and is well grounded in the history of a place, or an online encyclopedia that anyone can create an entry for? I vote for believing Frankie, she has never posted something on Punaweb that was factually incorrect. I know wikipedia is wrong sometimes, a few years ago my students had me listed as Empress of the Known Universe and it stood for a few weeks.
Carol

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In 1974, the Chain of Craters Road between Kalapana and the Kilauea crater was covered with lava -- I went to what was then "the end of the road". At the time, my understanding was that it had been covered for at least a few years had not been built for many years when it was inundated.

[Midnight Rambler]

The original road alignment of Chain of Craters Road was also somewhat different. Before 1969 it went out to Makaopuhi Crater, then headed almost directly makai before turning east onto the hairpin. The short road to the Mauna Ulu/Puu Huluhulu parking lot is part of the old road, and if you hike the Naulu Trail, you can see another fragment in a kipuka. Mauna Ulu came up almost right next to the road.

[oink]

Wouldn't the biggest changes be the demise of cane and pineapple and the rise of tourism.

Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.

[Frankie Stapleton]

Re: the Chain of Craters Road/Hwy. 130 debate: I checked my clip files and the beautiful new Chain of Craters Road constructed by the feds opened in 1979 and was covered by lava on Nov. 26, 1986. Nine families' homes at Kapa'ahu were destroyed that Thanksgiving and on Nov. 28, 1986, lava entered the ocean for the first time since 1973.

You can see a portion of the federally built highway that opened in 1979 right where the makai turnoff to Kaimu and Uncle Robert's kuleana. That nice portion of road heading to the Kalapana end of the highway was what the whole new Chain of Craters Road was like. So the Volcano-to-Kalapana thoroughfare lasted a whole 6 and a half years. It's been covered many times over since 1986.

Repaving of the Chain of Craters road is not the solution to our lower Puna cul-de-sac. When I moved into Puna in 1979, potential propery owners were told an alternate route was to be built and that HPP even had designated such roads in that subdivision. But then so many newcomers moved in and started going to the Traffic Advisory hearings, complaining about not wanting an alternate route in their backyards. And the state DOT took the alternate makai route off their priority list. That was in the 1980s.
We're now truly suffering the consequences of that.

[james weatherford]

Interesting, Frankie.
Would that mean that the highway built before 1979 and covered once before that was funded by the state and on the re-build the Feds paid for it?