Puna Roundabout

[huwenfut]

Hear they're going to build a roundabout in Pahoa and run all traffic through Pahoa town while building it. Does Pahoa need this?

[punaticbychoice]

That was the plan before the 6/27/14 flow stopped the project.

[KeaauRich]

PbyC..it's still the plan, as per June 23 Tribune Herald:

Construction of the Pahoa roundabout will begin by the end of the year and possibly by the end of summer, according to a state Department of Transportation spokesman.

The $5 million project was postponed last year while the June 27 lava flow threatened lower Puna. The flow stalled outside Pahoa last March but remains active near the Pu‘u ‘O‘o vent.

Tim Sakahara, DOT public information officer, said the agency is working with Isemoto Contracting on setting a start date. He said the plan is to get the project underway no later than the end of the year and as early as August or September.

The roundabout will be located at the intersection of Highway 130 and Pahoa Village Road.

Construction will take place during a span of 180 working days, Sakahara said.

During that time, highway traffic will be rerouted through Pahoa Village Road and Kahakai Boulevard

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Probably sooner rather than later.
There's been an update on the story about Hawaii sitting on federal highway funds. Some of the findings:

The Federal Highway Administration review found that the Hawaii DOT "...does not track and manage projects in real time."

Hawaii had $820 million worth of unused federal highway aid sitting on the books waiting to be spent in 2013, about five times the roughly $160 million in highway funds the state gets from the federal government each year.

The money is "waiting to be spent on vital transportation projects that could stoke the state's economy and bring transportation benefits to the public," the FHA report said.

"I'd like to see an investigation take place as to why it's taking so long, why the delays are occurring," Caton said.

"Civil servants in the system have been there year after year after year. And so we're really going to have to change the culture of the Department of Transportation," Kim said.

The federal review found the average time a federally funded state highways project takes to get started in Hawaii is nearly one year -- 350 days. That's three to four times as long as nine other states, where it took an average of 80 to 100 days to go from federal project approval to giving the contractor a "notice to proceed."

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/28948...ct-backlog

[Chunkster]

An article I read in the Honolulu daily told how one federal official described the Hawaii DOT as a "bureaucratic nightmare." (I would post a link, but it's paid content.) And that's coming from the feds who have issues of their own. My guess is that the project approval process hasn't been streamlined because too many well-connected individuals would lose their cushy jobs or personal power. Disclosure: I tend to be very cynical when it comes to the quality and efficiency of Hawaii government employees.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Chunkster, you're probably right about the lack of improvement in the approval process.

I started my post by saying the roundabout would be built sooner rather than later because I also heard a radio story about this issue, and in it the Feds said they were going to give the state an ultimatum and time limit on the highway funds. Now, most people would figure out a way to start spending, but you're right, the DOT civil servants would probably rather lose the funds than get out of their Aeron adjustable office chairs.

[punaticbychoice]

Funds to maintain such roads as are built are needed to maintain roads on Oahu.
SOL here with few exceptions, mainly for tourism.

[rainyjim]

It may seem that way from afar but many projects on Oahu are facing similar realities and stalled due to protests and appeals regarding a range of issues from environmental to burial grounds.

The problem is not specific to Hawaii County.

[punaticbychoice]

Well, let's push what we can here since there is such a backlog.
Why wait on Oahu?

[huwenfut]

Does Pahoa need a roundabout?