Puna Makai Route “Soon”

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Town hall Meeting about Highway 130
Oct 26, 2025
1:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Pahoa Neighborhood Facility

Joy San Buenaventura
Chris Todd
Gregor Ilagan
Ed Sniffen (Hawaii DOT)

[terracore]

I saw that they are going to piss away another huge sum of money on another "study" that will go nowhere.

[kalakoa]

I wouldn't say "nowhere", probably San Diego and/or Portland.

[MarkD]

I saw that they are going to piss away another huge sum of money on another "study" that will go nowhere.

Right, the study would just  tell us what we already know:  the fat cat landowners whose land is needed will never agree to contribute land to their community, i.e., to sell it at reasonable cost for public use.  That is Shipman in the case of Puna and Parker Ranch in the case of the Waimea bypass. 

 Too bad communities don't use Eminent Domain the way they used to decades ago.  How do you think the H-1 freeway got built in Honolulu.

[kalakoa]

the fat cat landowners whose land is needed will never agree to contribute

Residents will also object to a "highway" through their peaceful lands -- they might even get an astroturfing campaign in their name, funded by the aforementioned fat cats.

[Punaperson]

My neighbor called Matt Kaneali'l-Kleinfelder yesterday, District 5 council representative for Orchidland among other subdivisions which abut HWY 130.  He was unaware of the meeting.

Edited, added by Moderator 2:

Town hall Meeting about Highway 130
Oct 26, 2025
1:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Pahoa Neighborhood Facility

Joy San Buenaventura
Chris Todd
Gregor Ilagan
Ed Sniffen (Hawaii DOT)

[ChunksterK]

There's a report in today's HTH about the Highway 130 meeting which took place a week ago. (The HTH's motto should be "Yesterday's news tomorrrow . . . or maybe next week.") PMAR got prominent mention.

https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/202...ed7a44b7e1

In case it's behind a paywall by now, I'll summarize a few points.

The state DOT is still not doing capacity expansion on 130 preferring to do flow improvements via roundabouts, signals, and contraflow. It was mentioned by the politicians that the Ainaloa roundabout was built too small and would have to be improved before anything else would work. How stupid was that?

As for PMAR, they mentioned that the study was getting underway, but the first public meetins are still "months away." Six routes are being considered, and although they didn't specifically mention it, at least some of those are mauka of 130 according to earlier reports. The cost will be at least $300 million, and "federal assistance will be essential." Greggor Ilagan grabbed the third rail of Hawaii politics and said that a route throuh Hawaiian Homelands should be considered. Yeah, right.

We all know that it will cost twice as much and take twice as long as whatever their study indicates. And this being Puna, there will be opposition to whatever is proposed.

[kalakoa]

Todd added: “Road-widening is necessary, but that’s not going to fix the problem. The problem is vehicle miles traveled. It’s finding a way to shift people into public transportation options, which are not currently viable. Also, finding a way to further centralize services and employment here in Puna.”

Wait. Did someone just admit that the "Drive To Hilo" plan isn't going to solve everything?

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

It’s finding a way to shift people into public transportation options, which are not currently viable.

Flying cars, a Star Trek style transporter, or safe bike paths would also solve the problem, but are not currently viable. In Japan the streets are crowded with bikes, many with parents carrying a young child on the back. Because the roads are generally safe. And population centers have stores and services that people require for their day to day needs. An approach that might leave one wondering why Hawaii government agencies with a high percentage of employees of Japanese ancestry don’t consider the possibility of such a system? After multiple generations removed from distant relatives the connections become broken among any of us, but not all. Somebody must watch KIKU at 7 PM.

[randomq]

We can't even keep one bus running around here.