State revs up
Big Isle road plan

Speeding up Phase 1 leaves many
desiring more action sooner

KAILUA-KONA » The state Department of Transportation announced plans Wednesday to use a "design-build" process to speed widening of part of Kona's traffic-clogged Queen Kaahumanu Highway to four lanes.

Traffic congestion has prompted Mayor Harry Kim to veto an 83-acre project facing the highway and to warn that he will not issue building permits for others.

A single contract to design and construct the 2.6-mile first phase of the 7.5-mile project will be awarded in March, the Transportation Department said. Design and construction are normally handled in separate contracts with a delay between them.

The unified approach should speed completion by a full year to early 2007, said department spokesman Scott Ishikawa. The overall project is expected to cost $90 million, with $25 million of that going for Phase 1.

Community leaders gave lukewarm reactions.

"This is like a Band-Aid. We'll take whatever we can get," said Eric von Platen Luder, president of the Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce. "When are they doing Phase 2?" he asked.

Ishikawa said there is still no money for that phase, which covers two-thirds of the distance from Kailua-Kona to Keahole Airport and includes the area where Kim vetoed the 83-acre project.

John Ray, president of Hawaii Leeward Planning Conference, called the Phase 1 work "a piece of the puzzle."

"We need to figure out a way to get an awful lot happening a lot sooner," he said.

Von Platen Luder said there are accidents on the two-lane highway "all the time," with frustrated drivers passing dangerously and forcing others onto the shoulder to avoid head-on collisions.

The Transportation Department said the 15,000 vehicles per day driving the highway now could increase to 90,000 per day by 2010 if all projects planned for the area are built.