State and county leaders have joined together to address congestion on Puainako Street caused as more families drop off and pick up students at nearby public schools.
“It’s an all-hands-on-deck collaboration for our keiki,” Hilo Councilwoman Sue Lee Loy said in a news release Thursday.
Waiakea Elementary Principal Ken Watanabe said in the release that COVID-19 has “everyone adjusting to minimize student exposure.” As a result, more families are dropping off and picking up students.
“It has caused long lines clogging up Puainako Street,” Waiakea Intermediate School Principal Lisa Souza said.
According to the news release, plans call to extend the drop-off/pick-up queue on the WES campus and develop new parking and holding areas, with the goal of relieving traffic snags on Puainako Street.
Each school will get a new parking area, and there will be two areas of “modest widening and reinforcement” along a loop road on the WIS campus. There also will be a new drive-thru approach apron at the WES campus.
At Waiakea Elementary, new signage and traffic flow patterns will be adjusted to direct cars into the existing teacher parking area and coil back to the newly created drive-thru apron for student drop-offs and pick-ups.
Site preparation work has started on the two campuses, with the bulk of the project scheduled for Oct. 11-15. Approximately 100 truckloads of materials will be transported from a site near Alae Cemetery to the schools.
Police will be on hand to assist construction vehicles and traffic.
Motorists are asked to plan for extra travel times around Alae Cemetery and Puainako Street.
“These new features allow greater flexibility on campus,” Watanabe said. “We look forward to welcoming all our students and teachers back after the fall break to an upgraded campus.”
“Our families and educators have been working tirelessly to adapt to the ever-changing COVID-19 mitigation protocols in our schools, and we are honored to partner with the (state Department of Education) to help alleviate some of the burden felt by many in our community,” Mayor Mitch Roth said in the release.
“Our No. 1 priority is that our keiki are
able to remain in the classroom safely, but equitable access to that classroom is the first step.”
