A study to investigate possible alternate traffic routes into Puna apparently died more than six months ago, despite assurances by Hawaii County officials the project was still on track.
Puna Rep. Greggor Ilagan announced Tuesday that $1 million in state funds that were allocated in 2022 for a Puna Makai Alternate Route feasibility study had quietly lapsed at the end of June 2024 — to his surprise.
Puna residents have long requested a second access route into Puna to relieve traffic congestion on Highway 130 and create additional evacuation options in the event of a disaster.
The 2022 funding, which Ilagan fought to secure in the state Legislature, would have been used to develop a study of potential locations for that alternate route, but required a $500,000 match by the county.
Ilagan told the Tribune-Herald on Tuesday that — somehow — the county failed to release its funds by a deadline at the end of June 2024. Because of this, the state funds have lapsed back to the general fund.
“I’m very frustrated,” Ilagan said Tuesday. “This is definitely unacceptable. … How was nobody informing us about this?”
Ilagan said he was only told about the loss of the funds on Friday, leaving him to confirm the situation over the next few days. But he has been operating under the assumption the state funds were available and the project was moving forward for almost a year.
Steve Pause, then the county Director of Public Works, told the Tribune-Herald in October the project was on track.
“DPW is presently working on the details of the work scope and to select a professional service provider (consultant). I understand that the state funding of $1M is in place, and presently DPW is working with county Finance to get the remaining $1M appropriated. I expect all this to come together before year’s end and the project study to commence in early 2025,” Pause wrote in an email sent the Tribune-Herald on Oct. 24, nearly four months after the funds had already expired.
Ilagan blamed the lapse squarely on the previous county administration and the previous County Council.
While Ilagan’s statement emphasized “this is not the fault of the current Hawaii County administration and new council members,” who only took office in December, the current composition of the County Council only differs from the previous council by two members — Hilo Councilman Dennis “Fresh” Onishi, and Kohala Councilman James Hustace, who respectively took over the seats of Sue Keohokapu-Lee Loy and Cindy Evans.
Ilagan pointed to a series of incidents in late 2023 and early 2024, when the council repeatedly challenged a county bill that would have accepted the funds for the study, a typically routine process.
In Dec. 2023, the council voted to reject the bill, but then, in an unusual second vote, passed it at first reading only about 10 minutes later. But the council ultimately voted to kill the bill at second and final reading during its next meeting later that month.
The council’s concerns about the bill at the time were various, but chief among them was that the alternate route might negatively impact lots managed by the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, something some members felt the bill did not adequately address.
Only two council members voted to support the bill in 2023, Hilo Councilwoman Jenn Kagiwada and Puna Councilwoman Ashley Kierkiewicz. It was the latter who would introduce a new bill just a week later once again attempting to secure the funds.
Kierkiewicz told the Tribune-Herald on Tuesday that County Council rules prohibit the council from introducing a measure that is substantially similar to a bill that was already voted down during the same council term.
Consequently, Kierkiewicz’s new measure in 2024 increased the county’s share of the funds to $1 million — bringing the total funds to $2 million — and increased the scope of the project to focus on lands both mauka and makai of Highway 130.
“I thought, we may as well measure twice and cut once,” Kierkiewicz said, explaining that she felt that focusing solely on possible routes on one side of Highway 130 was too limiting.
Her bill eventually passed.
In any event, Ilagan said that change to the scope of the project “diluted” efforts to focus on an alternate route makai of the highway.
“This lapse did not happen due to miscommunication or procedural delays — it was the direct result of decisions made by the County Council,” Ilagan said in his statement. “Their unwillingness to commit to the Puna Makai Alternate Route, and their neglect to properly allocate the funding, is why we are now facing this setback.”
Kierkiewicz said she was
“disappointed” in Ilagan’s willingness to point the finger at the council.
She said she was just as blindsided as Ilagan by the loss of the funds, and said there is not a “clear process of accountability” at the county to monitor funding transfers.
Kierkiewicz said she believes Pause did genuinely believe the project was on track in October, and noted that securing funding is a complicated and often opaque process.
“It all felt very fuzzy,” Kierkiewicz said of project updates she had requested from Pause. “At some point, you have to trust that people are doing their jobs.”
In any case, Ilagan said the funding is lost, and it is too late to introduce a bill in the state Legislature this year to reallocate money to the project — although he can still make a request to include it in the state budget.
However, he added, this will require once again convincing his colleagues in the Legislature to support the study, something he cannot guarantee will be successful.
Mayor Kimo Alameda late Tuesday afternoon issued a brief statement about the issue: “We understand the importance of this project for Puna, and we are currently seeking a reappropriation from the state Department of Transportation as well as reviewing all our options for moving this study forward.”
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.