Roads and Traffic
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5/17/2008
The one main road in Kailua-Kona, HI on the west coast of the Big Island has become way too small for the population explosion and dramatic increase in vehicles on the road in the last 7 years. The county has been widening the narrow divided highway on the eight mile stretch between Kailua-Kona and Kona International Airport into a 4-lane highway. Completion of a section of this construction should be completed by late 2008. Just south of Kailua-Kona town there is very little or no room to widen the narrow roadway. People who live in Kainaliu (96725)and south to Captain Cook are stuck in the notorious "Kainaliu Crawl." Between 3pm - 6pm weekdays, especially on a Friday (rain compounds the traffic), the divided highway is literally a southbound 1 mph parade. On a stretch of road that should take about 5 minutes to clear, it literally can take up to 35 - 45 minutes. There is no public transportation except one bus that circles the island but is limited in convenience. A secondary bypass roadway is being built by a local high-end development known a Hokulia, but has run into many legal problems for its completion.
The bottomline is these roads were not built for this many vehicles, and the county was taken by surprise by the huge population explosion post September 11, 2001. Also, more attention is traditionally given to Hilo on the east side of the Big Island due to a much higher population, and Hilo is the seat of government for Hawaii county.
John | Honalo, HI