After months of clear skies during a drier-than-usual rainy season, wet weather has pushed back the expected opening date of the Pahoa roundabout.
The opening of the state-funded project takes place in three phases. The first, Phase A, began earlier this month when the makai side of the roundabout was opened to Keaau-bound traffic.
When Phase B is implemented, the roundabout will be open to Keaau- and Kalapana-bound traffic. A portion of Highway 130, ending at the Pahoa Marketplace entrance, will be closed during that time.
A spokesman for the state Department of Transportation said Phase B was expected to open May 2 but the department and contractor, Isemoto Contracting, were “taking it day by day.”
It takes about two weeks for a construction phase to be completed. Weather permitting, the completed roundabout will be open by the middle of May.
The shifts in configuration at the roundabout site began in December when a temporary traffic signal at the intersection of Kahakai Boulevard and Pahoa Village Road was installed to create a detour route.
Since then, drivers have struggled to adapt to the changing traffic patterns. One Pahoa Elementary School bus driver, known to her students as Aunty Maggie, said she saw fender-benders and head-on collisions last week while on her route. Delays when going to pick up the students were common, she said.
Last Friday, traffic delays at the site were more than an hour.
State Sen. Russell Ruderman, D-Puna, Ka‘u, said he has heard from residents often about “certain aspects of the detour configuration that are really inconvenient,” such as trying to get from the Pahoa Marketplace back in a Keaau-bound direction.
“I think we’re all looking forward to when (the roundabout) finally opens up for real and we get to see how it works,” he said.
There is still a sense among some in Pahoa, as expressed during an April 7 public information meeting hosted by the DOT, that a traffic light would have been a better fix at the intersection of Highway 130 and Pahoa Village Road, as well as a sense that people won’t be able to adjust to a roundabout configuration.
“The implication is people around here will never learn that, and I find that kind of insulting,” Ruderman said. “It was the same thing with the plastic bag bans.”
“I don’t put much credence into those particular concerns. Whether the roundabout by its design and size will handle our traffic capacity is a different concern,” he added.
Work on the roundabout was expedited in order to complete the entire project on an earlier timetable. It was initially intended to be finished in July.
To view current traffic conditions at the roundabout site, visit www.punatraffic.com. To learn more about the Pahoa roundabout project and view a video about using a roundabout, visit hidot.hawaii.gov/presentations/.
Email Ivy Ashe at iashe@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
