Proposed Waimea bypass not fiscally prudent
The South Kohala Traffic Safety Committee recently submitted a letter criticizing the HDOT for deleting the proposed Waimea bypass from the FY2015-2018 +2 STIP in lieu of the Daniel K. Inouye Highway (formerly Saddle Road) extension.
I agree Kawaihae Road is in dire need of safety improvements. There is no way this can be disputed. However, I don’t think it is fiscally prudent to construct a 5 mile bypass road that would benefit only a small subset of the population. The Daniel K. Inouye Highway extension, on the other hand, will reduce the amount of traffic on both Waikoloa Road and Kawaihae Road.
Both of these substandard roadways are currently handling inbound and outbound military and commercial traffic heading back and forth from Kawaihae. It would make sense to construct a new highway between Queen Kaahumanu and Daniel K. Inouye Highway to relieve the burden on Kawaihae and Waikoloa Roads.
The United States Highway Trust Fund is practically insolvent, so I strongly believe we need to construct highway projects that will benefit the most people. I believe the Daniel K. Inouye Highway extension is the best choice in these fiscally constrained times.
Aaron Stene
Kailua-Kona
Overpopulation is deadly on planet Earth
It is a sad reality that hardly anybody is talking about overpopulation on planet Earth and its dire consequences. Presently, the world is much too crowded with population numbers hovering around the 7.3 billion mark. In the minds of many, planet Earth can only handle a little over 1 billion people so the present day population is much too much.
One of the consequences of overpopulation is war. This takes place because there are too many people in a given area fighting over scarce resources. Another consequence of concrete jungles is hurricanes, which we are far too familiar with. With more people burning fossil fuels, climate change takes place resulting in more hurricanes, tornadoes and tropical storms.
I just have to say it is sad that over- population is hardly talked about. If we do not tackle this problem, dire consequences for the present and future world will take place.
Dean F. Nagasako
Honokaa