Study underway about alternative routes on both sides of Highway 130 in growing Puna

A comprehensive transportation study is underway to find and analyze potential alternative routes in Puna to help alleviate the district’s longstanding traffic congestion and address the need for another evacuation route when natural disasters strike. 

Now, Highway 130 is the state’s only major route in and out of lower Puna, which has about 50,000 residents and is projected to grow to about 75,000 people within a decade, county officials have said.

In March, the Hawaiʻi County Council unanimously approved Bill 131, which provides $1 million in state funds and $1 million in county funds to the Department of Public Works to hire a professional consultant to conduct the study on alternative routes for the district south of Hilo on the east side of the Big Island.

About half the funds are being used to examine potential routes on the ocean side of Route 130 and the other half on possible roads for the mountain side. The study could be complete in about six months, County Councilmember Matt Kanealiʻi-Kleinfelder said Wednesday evening.

He was discussing the status of the study and the importance of an alternative route at Mountain View Elementary during a Puna town hall with state Sen. Joy A. San Buenaventura and state Rep. Jeanne Kapela. 

“After 20 years of conversations and funding, we do not have an alternate route yet, and whether youʻre in Puna Uka or Puna Kai, we all end up on the Panaʻewa stretch every morning and night,” Kanealiʻi-Kleinfelder said.

He said another access route to Saddle Road would alleviate traffic on the Panaʻewa stretch, decrease first responder time and provide travel options in the event of a highway closure due to reasons that include major accidents and lava flows.

“I wanted to bring it up again now, because itʻs important to get everyone to start talking about it again,” Kanealiʻi-Kleinfelder said. “We want to get the details out there of who this would affect; why it is needed; and how it can be done.”

Kanealiʻi-Kleinfelder said this year he is focusing on Puna Uka, which is one of last affordable areas to build in Hawaiʻi and has seen a large increase in population in the past few years. 

One major project he completed was the improvements to Stainback Highway to address the traffic congestion and make head way toward providing access from Puna Uka to Saddle Road. 

“As someone whoʻs lived here for 11 years, Matt has made the most headway on these issues,” said Brennan Veith Low, an upper Puna resident. “The fact that Stainback happened, that is the closest to an alternate route we have achieved.”

After the town hall, Veith Low asked Kaneali‘i-Kleinfelder and San Buenaventura about protected turns from the upper Puna subdivisions onto Highway 11. 

“I understand why the state prioritizes safety by focusing on roundabouts, but I think creating safe merge lanes would cost less and be easier to complete,” Veith Low said. “If you go past the intersection of South Kulani Road and Highway 11, there are no safe merge lanes at every major subdivision joining the highway until Volcano.”

At least three major subdivisions with more than 10,000 lots have no safe way to join the highway, Veith Low said.

Road access in Puna is an open discussion between the county and state, especially with a growing population in 19 subdivisions spanning just under 500 square miles, Kaneali‘i-Kleinfelder said.

Puna is an area only slightly smaller than the island of Kauaʻi.

“The state is willing to work with us on this, which is why weʻre discussing it together today,” he said. “My goals are to continue planning a connection to Saddle Road and to make headway on an alternate route, which would be tremendous for our district.”