State to hold open house for Daniel K. Inouye Highway extension project in Waikōloa

The Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation will be in Waikōloa on Wednesday night to host an open house about the Daniel K. Inouye Highway extension project.

The meeting will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Waikōloa Elementary and Middle School Cafeteria at 68-1730 Hoʻoko St.

The extension project to add 10.5 miles to the well-traveled Daniel K. Inouye Highway, also known as Saddle Road, began in 1999. But it has been shelved twice due to a lack of funding. It is now back on the table, with the state seeking federal funding to pay for it.

Shelly Kunishige, spokesperson for the Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation, told Big Island Now in April that the state is partnering with the U.S. Army to seek defense funding for the extension that would connect the highway, formerly known as Saddle Road, from Māmalahoa Highway (State Route 190) to the Queen Kaʻahumanu Highway (State Route 19).

Tonight’s open house will allow participants to share their thoughts with the state agency on the proposed project and learn about the environmental review process and project timeline.

The presentation will be shared on https://www.naleo.tv/ and posted to the project website following the open house.

This open house comes on the heels of several traffic fatalities on Hawai‘i Island, including on Daniel K. Inouye Highway.

One Big Island resident reached out to Big Island Now, saying they planned to oppose this extension. They believe funds should be used to make changes to the current stretch of roadway, including creating double lanes for the entirety of Saddle Road, dropping the speed limit from 60 mph to 55 mph and installing a concrete barrier between the north and southbound lanes.

To restart the project, HDOT must prepare updated Environmental Impact Statements compliant with the National Environmental Policy Act and Hawaiʻi Environmental Policy Act. The updated environmental analyses will build upon and update the information published in the 2017 Draft Environmental Impact Statement.

Hawaiʻi Gov. Josh Green specifically named this project in a letter he sent in November to Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll proposing $10 billion in federal investments for infrastructure, housing and environmental remediation as part of lease negotiations to allow the U.S. Army to continue using thousands of acres of state land for training and other military uses.

The leases include the use of Pōhakuloa Training Area on the Big Island.

The driving force behind the road extension is better traffic flow, alleviating congestion on Waikōloa and Kawaihae roads caused by military convoys traversing between Pōhakuloa Training Area and Kawaihae Harbor, as well as commercial trucks.

For more information on the proposed Daniel K. Inouye Highway Extension Project, visit www.danielkinouyehwyextension.com.