State Rep. Greggor Ilagan has introduced a bill that, if passed, would order and fund site surveys to identify the most suitable location for an alternate road to lower Puna makai of Highway 130.
“At the town halls I conducted last month, the issue my constituents identified more than any other is the need for PMAR,” Ilagan told the Tribune-Herald Friday, referring to a long-proposed Puna Makai Alternate Route.
House Bill 1403 passed its first floor reading on Jan. 19 and was referred to the House Transportation and Finance committees. As of Monday, it hadn’t been scheduled for a hearing. However, Ilagan, the vice chairman of the Transportation Committee, said he expects the bill to be heard by the committee, perhaps as early as this week.
According to the measure, it’s projected that Puna will grow by 42,000 residents, almost doubling its current population by 2035. In addition, the bill notes Hilo as the primary employment area in the region, with more than 40% of the area’s jobs.
“As a result, average traffic volumes near Hilo on Keaau-Pahoa Road (Highway 130) peak at approximately 22,200 vehicles per day in each direction,” the bill states. “… The Legislature finds that Highway 130 is the primary arterial on only access route into the southeastern portion of the Puna area. The Legislature further finds that because of this limited road access, the residents of Puna experience severe traffic congestion, which impact that quality of life of the Puna residents and may also result in fatal delays of emergency services.”
The bill said any state or county lands “may be considered in determining where to conduct site surveys.” Private lands “may be considered and site surveys may be conducted pursuant to agreements with landowners.”
Routes being considered include Railroad Avenue between Panaewa and Keaau. That would almost certainly include property owned by private landowner W.H. Shipman Ltd., which has opposed such a road through its property.
Shipman President Peggy Farias said Monday the opposition is based “partly on the impact on our ag lands and our concern with security.”
“A big part of it is being in support of the neighbors in (Hawaiian Paradise Park) and in Hawaiian Homes land in Panaewa that would also be impacted by a road,” Farias said. “Because it’s not just us. In terms of how a Puna makai route would relate to our development of the (Keaau) village … when we did the master plan, we did have a couple of people during the public comment period that were, like, ‘If you’re going to do this, then you should open Railroad.’
“To us, they’re two completely distinct projects and two completely distinct situations.”
The master plan Farias referred to could add 940 residential units in Keaau village in two phases over the course of 10 to 15 years, commercial development on 15 acres of land, and a wastewater treatment plant.
“Our design … in the master plan and the traffic impact studies of that are actually looking at taking cars off of Highway 130, because we’re trying to provide housing closer to services and closer to schools and closer to job opportunities in the hopes that if you locate services closer to where people live, people don’t have to drive as far, and you reduce congestion on the roads,” she said. “… While we do not believe that PMAR will be the best long-term solution to traffic and congestion in Puna, we do recognize the community desire to explore this option.
“Should HB1403 pass, we will work with (the state Department of Transportation) and the county to look for an alignment across our land that addresses the … concerns and minimizes the negative impacts on our tenants and neighbors.”
County Councilwoman Ashley Kierkiewicz of Puna said if the bill’s purpose is to start a conversation, “let’s have a conversation.”
“But I want to know where we’re going,” Kierkiewicz said. “Because if, at the end of the day, people are saying, ‘Hey, I want another road. I want to get to Hilo faster,’ that’s a problem.
“I don’t want Puna to continue to be a bedroom community. We have to invest in infrastructure that allows people to access what they need in their community. We need the commercial town centers, and the Puna (Community Development Plan) supports this. We need good paying jobs with livable wages in the communities that people are living in.”
State Rep. Chris Todd, a Hilo Democrat whose district includes Panaewa, said “an alternate route is necessary, just for health and safety reasons — not to mention the actual traffic mitigation.”
“This is something that has been pending for a very long time that does need action,” Todd said. “And I think going through that public process of actually vetting the options and the impacted communities and how everybody feels about it, I think is a step in the right direction.
“I do know that in the past, one of the concerns about Railroad Avenue is that Hawaiian Home Lands in Hilo are already disproportionately impacted by traffic patterns, by road construction and by the industrial facilities. So part of the concern is if you extend all the way to Railroad and you make that a high traffic area also, then the community of Panaewa is bracketed now by two major thoroughfares, not to mention Puainako Street, also. So any conversation about Railroad has to be, in my mind, driven by that community and with them in mind. And if that is the site, how do we best insure that this is something that’s safe, and we’re not really putting this burden on the Hawaiian community?”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
