Work on roundabout to begin

After years of planning and months of lava-related postponement, construction work on a roundabout at one of the most dangerous intersections in the county is set to begin in August.

The $4.8 million state-funded project in Pahoa has been in the works since 2011, when the roundabout was first proposed as a solution to the high traffic accident rate at the intersection of Highway 130 and Pahoa Village Road. A state Department of Transportation study reported 40 major accidents between 2004 and 2007.

“This particular (project) was a little bit more critical,” state Sen. Lorraine Inouye told the Tribune-Herald on Friday. Inouye is the chair of the Senate Transportation and Energy Committee, and is one of several state and local officials who will attend a public informational meeting about the roundabout on Wednesday.

The meeting begins at 6 p.m. at the Pahoa Community Center. Representatives and engineers from DOT will also attend, along with project contractor Isemoto. Construction work will begin at the site on Aug. 10 and is expected to last 180 working days, or about 9 months, Inouye said.

Work was initially slated for last summer, but was delayed after the June 27 lava flow. Inouye said that because of the long delay, some thought the project had died entirely.

Though the roundabout is intended to improve traffic in Pahoa, there has also been concern that drivers will be slow to adjust.

“It’s not going to work in Pahoa,” resident Steve Sugar said. “People don’t (even) stop at the stop signs.” He predicted that fatalities would go down, but there would be more fender-benders.

Wally Chastain of Aloha Coast Realty, in the shopping center nearest the intersection, said Pahoa was “a difficult place to drive.”

“It’s going to take a little bit of education,” he said.

Inouye acknowledged that the roundabout would require drivers to adjust.

“It’ll be new,” she said. Inouye drives on a roundabout daily while in Honolulu for the legislative session. “(It) slows traffic,” she said. “It won’t be confusing once they get used it it; traffic will continue to flow.”

When the project was first being studied, an environment assessment found a roundabout to be more effective than a traffic signal in terms of increasing safety while reducing traffic delays.

One thing everyone does agree on is that some new measure needs to be taken at the intersection.

“It’s definitely a hot topic,” said Phoenix Roewe, assistant manager at Pahoa Battery and Propane. From the store, he said, he could “always hear the ambulances and the sirens” coming to respond.

Roewe said the left turn onto 130 toward Hilo is a particular trouble spot, and that his stepfather’s car was clipped by another motorist there recently.

“As long as people don’t get in accidents like they have been,” said Angie Click, who was picking up lunch at Aloha Lehua Cafe on Kahakai Boulevard, across from the hotspot intersection. The staff and customers there can see the accidents unfold as they happen, and say that the entire area, including the intersection of Kahakai and Pahoa Village Road, is dangerous.

“I hope it works,” cafe cook Jim Brown said.

“I’m just happy we’re addressing long overdue projects for the community,” Inouye said, adding that the Keaau-Pahoa Road was next on the list of state-funded projects.

“What I can see further on, I would certainly like the county now to jump on the bandwagon and make improvements to the county-owned road,” she said.

The roadway into town is a tight fit for drivers already, and Pahoa continues to grow.

“It’s no longer a small town,” Inouye said.