HDOT Offers Kea‘au-Pāhoa Road Data, Design

The Kea‘au-Pāhoa Road, also known as Route 130, contraflow to add a northbound lane during the morning rush between Shower Drive and Kaloli Drive is scheduled to begin operations at 5:30 a.m. Monday, Aug. 26, 2019.

The contraflow will be open between 5:30 and 8:30 a.m. Monday through Friday, excluding holidays, according to a Hawai‘i Department of Transportation (HDOT) press release.

An exhibit showing the contraflow layout is available online. Similar to the setup of the trial contraflow in 2018, left turns onto and from Kea‘au-Pāhoa Road will not be permitted during the contraflow hours.

HDOT apologized in its release for not providing prior notice to the community of the restriping on Kea‘au-Pāhoa Road that began Aug. 8, 2019. As a result of the congestion and its effects on thousands of motorists, HDOT is retaining the dedicated right turn from Shower Drive onto northbound Kea‘au-Pāhoa Road until the setup for the contraflow is completed.

Once the contraflow is operational, the dedicated right turn will be removed. Typical daily volume for both directions on the road is approximately 22,779 vehicles. Daily volume on Shower Drive is approximately 2,000. The traffic counts and turn counts can be seen here and here.

HDOT said in its release that the department believes a large part of the increased volume on Shower Drive during the morning rush is due to motorists from outside the subdivision cutting through Hawaiian Paradise Park to avoid congestion.

The counts show traffic numbers on Kea‘au-Pāhoa Road declining from a high of 843 vehicles to 411 vehicles between 7 and 8 a.m. This is due to cars coming to a standstill on the mainline when traffic volumes are higher coming from Shower Drive than on the mainline, the release continued.

With the extra lane provided on Kea‘au-Pāhoa Road and the removal of the dedicated right turn from Shower Drive, HDOT encourages those who do not live in the Hawaiian Paradise Park neighborhood to stay on the main route and off the private roads.

HDOT will continue to monitor the traffic flow in the area and will make adjustments as necessary after the contraflow operations begin, the release stated.