Much-needed improvements to Puainako Street in Hilo could be on the horizon, pending federal budget requests.
Among three requests for federal funding drafted by Hilo Rep. Richard Onishi earlier this year was a proposal for $25 million that would be used to widen Puainako between Highway 11 and Kawili Street in an effort to reduce congestion on the heavily used road.
“That road, it’s got Waiakea Elementary and Waiakea Intermediate. It gets so much traffic, especially on school days,” Onishi told the Tribune-Herald.
Onishi said the funds, if granted, could be used to widen the road to include a left turn lane that would, among other things, allow drivers to more easily access the schools without blocking traffic.
The state already has an existing right-of-way for the school properties that would allow the road to be expanded northward without having to expand into the nearby neighborhood. However, Onishi said the state may have to acquire additional rights-of-way elsewhere on Puainako to allow for another lane of traffic.
Onishi added that other changes could include improvements to Puainako’s intersection with Kilauea Avenue — a perennially troublesome spot where left turns are difficult — but said changing the intersection would be more complicated.
During a Thursday community meeting to discuss improvements to the Four Mile Creek Bridge on Kilauea Avenue, one attendee asked Onishi if he could improve conditions at the Kilauea/Puainako intersection, but Onishi said that installing left-turn signals could only increase delays.
Meanwhile, Hilo Councilwoman Sue Lee Loy said she and state Department of Transportation Director Ed Sniffen are pursuing grants from the U.S. Department of Transportation that could also be used to improve Puainako Street.
For example, she said, the state might be eligible to receive a grant through U.S. DOT’s Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Program, which has more than $3 billion for planning and construction projects available to municipalities nationwide.
Lee Loy noted that the introduction of pick-up lanes at the Waiakea school during the COVID-19 pandemic may have helped mitigate traffic snarls, but also highlighted the dangers of having so many keiki walking across such a busy street.
“You know, we have all these trucks and trash going up there,” Lee Loy said. “On ship days, we get all our container trucks going up the hill. Unless we find a different route to ship things around the island, we have to do something about the road.”
Onishi said that until the federal budget is finalized this fall, he won’t know whether the state will receive any of the $25 million requested. The application period for the U.S. DOT grant ends in September.
Onishi added that his other two federal budget requests included a $5 million request for a study by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to investigate whether there can be a more permanent solution for sediment filling the mouth of the Wailoa Small Boat Harbor — which he said has to be dredged every 10 years or so, at great expense to the state — and a $10 million request to expand the Mountain View Post Office, which is far too small to accommodate the community.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
