With no funding available for widening Highway 130, the state Department of Transportation has gone back to the drawing board.
Don Smith, DOT Hawaii Island district engineer, said during a community meeting Thursday evening in Keaau that the plan is now to focus on improving safety on the corridor from Hawaiian Paradise Park to Ainaloa rather than adding capacity. His proposed solution is the addition of three more roundabouts and a new traffic signal.
“I don’t know when we’ll get funded,” said Smith, who lives in HPP. “What I don’t want to do is nothing, because I don’t have four lanes.”
The roundabouts are being considered for the intersections with Orchidland Drive, Makuu Drive and Ainaloa Boulevard, though he said he has not taken signal lights for those intersections off the table. The intersections are some of the most dangerous on the island, DOT officials said.
Smith said he also plans to put in place contraflow lanes to help with the morning rush hour commute next year, possibly along with a traffic signal at Kaloli Drive. He said there isn’t enough room in the right of way there for a roundabout.
A traffic signal was put in place at Shower Drive earlier this year.
Smith said overhead signals will tell drivers which lanes are open during contraflow hours. That project could be done by August 2019. There is no timeline yet for the other intersection improvements.
He said the roundabouts will improve safety, as shown by the roundabout installed at the Pahoa bypass intersection in 2016. Smith said that intersection went from the most dangerous in the state to having almost no wrecks.
He said there have been two minor accidents there since the roundabout was put in place, with no injuries.
Smith acknowledged that roundabouts cost more than traffic signals upfront. A traffic circle could cost $4 million to $5 million, while a signal can cost about $2.5 million.
“You can’t necessarily measure the cost difference directly by the initial cost,” he said. “You really have to look at it overall.”
Smith suggested roundabouts improve safety more than signals by slowing traffic down.
He said the speed limit would be 25 mph for the roundabouts, which would be smaller than the one in Pahoa in order to fit in the right of way and avoid the need to acquire property.
Smith said they would help people needing to turn left out of the driveways or uncontrolled intersections since they could instead take a right and use the circle to turn around safely.
About a dozen people were in attendance at Thursday’s meeting. Most seemed to support the idea, though some questioned whether the upfront higher cost makes it worth it.
“If it slows people down, I think it will be a good thing,” said HPP resident Nancy Knight.
Email Tom Callis at tcallis@hawaiitribune-herald.com.