Kailua-Kona may
finally get its
Alii Highway

The $30 million highway
would ease Alii Drive traffic,
but it has critics

By Rod Thompson
Star-Bulletin

KAILUA-KONA - Pedestrians, joggers, bicyclists, beach-goers and a slow-moving mix of local and through traffic bring vehicles on Kailua-Kona's narrow, shoreline Alii Drive to a crawl.

In 1968, Hawaii County did a study for an "Alii Highway," mauka of Alii Drive, for better traffic flow. And late next year, with luck - some say a lot of luck - Alii Highway construction finally may begin. The four-lane, 4.5-mile-long, $30 million highway would be 80 percent federally funded.

A county permit for the highway was approved this summer, and former county Chief Engineer Donna Kiyosaki estimated construction by the end of 1999.

But Kona Councilman Joe Reynolds, a Republican, says the highway has critics.

"I'd say right now it's not a slam dunk that we're going to have this highway anytime soon," he said.

One of the critics is Nancy Pisicchio, a Democrat who beat Reynolds in this month's general election, who supports a two-lane road.

Campaigning house to house, Pisicchio found many people oppose four lanes because it is not a "neighborhood" design.

Planning consultant William Moore says the highway must serve conditions expected 20 years from now to receive federal funds, and a two-lane road wouldn't do that.

The highway is supposed to link to a 5-mile-long, two-lane extension - not federally funded - through South Kona, part of the planned Oceanside 1250 land development.

Pisicchio fought Oceanside 1250 in court for several years.

Reynolds says traffic on the only existing road through South Kona comes to a near halt every morning and evening.

"We've had accidents tie up the road for two hours," he said.

Moore said an ambulance got stuck in traffic several years ago and the patient died.

To pay for its 20 percent share of Alii Highway, the county needs bond money, but the County Council already turned down a $40 million multipurpose bond request from Mayor Stephen Yamashiro.

Finding money to pay off a bond could be hard, since the county faces a $10 million shortfall next year, Reynolds said.

Noting potential confusion from the drive and the highway having the same name, a planning document said the highway's name "shall be revised."

A sensitive issue was resolved by routing the highway around a major archaeological complex.

Another issue resolved this summer was Yamashiro's 1995 request to the state Land Use Commission to urbanize 3,784 agricultural acres around Kailua, partly to assist with Alii Highway.

Critics said the request was too broad and would enrich landowners, including Yamashiro backers.

Yamashiro cut the request to 956 acres, and the commission approved 433 for urbanization.