Lack of signage causing confusion at new South Kona intersection

CAPTAIN COOK — A new intersection in South Kona is getting island visitors all turned around.

The intersection, which joins Mamalahoa Highway, Napoopoo Road and the Mamalahoa Highway Bypass, lacks guide signs to direct motorists on their way toward Volcano, Kealakekua Bay and Kailua-Kona.

And while there is one sign for drivers traveling along Highway 11, Mamalahoa Highway, the direction it signals is wrong.

The sign advises drivers to go straight to reach Volcano, when in fact they’d need to make a left turn instead. Going straight sends drivers down Napoopoo Road toward Kealakekua Bay.

“This is not where we’re supposed to be going,” said Seattle resident Tony Craig. He said he quickly realized what happened after getting mixed up by the sign while trying to get to Kaawaloa Trail on Thursday.

Craig was driving with Fiona Lo, who saw the sign and tried to use it for its intended purpose — directions.

“I saw (the sign) and said, ‘Turn at the next right,’” Lo said.

Turning right takes drivers down the new Mamalahoa Highway Bypass toward Keauhou. Craig and Lo realized their error while they were on the new road and made a U-turn back to the intersection.

The sign stands close to the new intersection, which was built as part of the bypass that runs from the junction of Highway 11 and Napoopoo Road to Alii Drive in Keauhou. The full road opened Nov. 4.

But the sign actually has been around for years. A Google “Street View” image taken in 2011 shows the sign when the road simply curved to the left and Napoopoo Road rose to meet Mamalahoa Highway at the outside of the curve.

Peter Midford and Julie Arendt, visitors from Richmond, Va., said they had trouble when they were coming up the bypass from Kailua-Kona for a visit to the Kona Historical Society Kona Coffee Living History Farm.

The farm is located immediately off Highway 11 only a couple of thousand feet south of the intersection. However, there are no guide signs to direct drivers coming up from the bypass.

Midford said they “went all three directions” at the intersection before they eventually got where they needed to go.

Midford and Arendt said they expect there to be signs along the new road given that it connects to Alii Drive, where many hotels are located.

“Tourists are coming in that way,” Midford said.

Reza Rafi and Neeta Nagra, visitors from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, had a similar issue.

While trying to get to Honaunau Bay, they pulled up to the intersection headed southbound along Highway 11. They, too, made a right before figuring out they needed to turn around.

“It would be nice to have signs,” Nagra said.

Rafi agreed, saying it’s difficult to figure out which way they need to go to get to the bays and parks.

“Those are popular tourist spots,” he said.

The county Department of Public Works, which is responsible for the intersection and bypass, did not respond to questions Thursday and Friday about the lack of signage or the inaccurate sign at the intersection.

A resident who lives in the area said the signs should have been fixed for the new intersection’s opening.

Alistair Bairos, who lived on Napoopoo Road for more than 25 years before moving to Captain Cook, said he loves the new intersection but the signs are an issue.

“It’s a wonderful improvement,” he said, saying the new signaled intersection is much safer than it was before.

However, he said, the county should have put more consideration into directing people through the intersection.

“The day they turned on the lights, (new signs) should have been there,” he said.

And the fact that the only sign there is wrong, he said, is causing needless headaches.

He said he’s watched as tourists, unfamiliar with driving in the area, hesitate and then head down Napoopoo Road.

“So, clearly it’s causing confusion,” he said.

Email Cameron Miculka at cmiculka@westhawaiitoday.com.