Paniolo Avenue Extension Completed in Waikoloa Village

A blessing was held today for a new road in Waikoloa Village that completes a long-standing promise to the South Kohala community.

The extension of Paniolo Avenue was first promised in 1988 when former landowner Transcontinental Development deeded 300 acres to the county to meet an affordable housing requirement for the Waikoloa Beach Resort.

The pact included a requirement that the Paniolo Avenue extension be built within five years. The obligation passed to current landowner Waikoloa Heights Land Investors in 1990.

As the county was completing its first affordable housing units in the Kamakoa Nui subdivision, it asked the developer to complete the extension. Waikoloa Heights Land Investors agreed last year to extend the road in conjunction with its overall plans for the Waikoloa Heights residential subdivision.

The nearly three-quarter-mile extension runs from the Ho`oko Street traffic light near Waikoloa School to Kamakoa Nui and the subdivision’s park.

“Two promises were made nearly 26 years ago,” Mayor Billy Kenoi said. “Those promises were that the county would build affordable housing for Waikoloa Beach Resort workers, and that Paniolo Avenue would be extended. Today those promises have been fulfilled.”

In the years ahead, the road will be widened to four lanes with connections to Queen Ka`ahumanu Highway and the Kawaihae Road.