Confusion, curiosity bring many to Pahoa roundabout meeting

Pahoa residents approached the start of the state’s long-delayed roundabout project at the town’s most dangerous intersection with a mixture of curiosity and concern during an informational meeting held Wednesday night.

Construction of the $4.8 million state-funded roundabout begins on Aug. 10 and is expected to last nine months. When complete, the roundabout will be the first in the state system. Although there are others on Oahu, they are managed by the City and County of Honolulu.

The roundabout will take the place of the Highway 130 and Pahoa Village Road intersection, and is an offshoot of a larger state plan to widen the Keaau-Pahoa road and ease traffic congestion. But because of safety concerns at the intersection, the department decided to tackle that construction first. Work was set to begin last summer but postponed after the June 27 lava flow.

The intersection has long had one of the highest accident rates in the state.

“We knew we couldn’t wait to address this corridor,” Ed Sniffen, Department of Transportation deputy director for highways, said during Wednesday’s meeting.

About 50 residents came to the meeting, which was hosted by state Sen. Lorraine Inouye, with several other local and state officials in attendance.

Since the roundabout was first proposed as a solution, the concept has been widely discussed by Puna residents, some of whom felt a traffic light would be a better idea. Inouye made it clear at the meeting’s outset that the evening was more for information and less for discussion.

“There is no longer any room for debate on the roundabout; the plans have been made and the project executed,” she said.

Sniffen said the roundabout was selected because it was the safest option.

“It definitely reduces speed, it reduces intensity, and it reduces conflict points,” he said. “The great thing is you’re not going to have T-bones anymore.”

A roundabout also does not require motorists to come to a full stop, as at a traffic light. Though there are delays as drivers enter the circle, Sniffen and project designer Steve Yoshida stressed that the traffic flow remains consistent.

“At a roundabout, you will always slow down, but it’s a slower corridor,” Sniffen said. Motorists will need to slow down to 35 miles per hour heading into the circle. Because of the tight curves and single-lane structure, Sniffen said, “Physically, you cannot go faster than 20 through the roundabout.”

At the same time, the road will be wide enough to allow trucks and construction equipment to navigate the curves. Sniffen said that DOT designers had worked with Sanford’s Service Center, located next to the Pahoa Marketplace, to make sure it was designed for truck movements.

In light of last year’s lava flow, evacuation and emergency access to Highway 130 were a concern for some.

“This isn’t any slower than a traffic light would be,” state Sen. Russell Ruderman said. “In an evacuation, you aren’t going 50 miles an hour … it’s not worse than any other alternative in that situation.”

While the project is being completed, a detour route will be in place and a temporary traffic signal installed at Kahakai Boulevard and Pahoa Village Road.

The meeting attempted to clear up other points of confusion that had surrounded the roundabout, including how pedestrians and cyclists would manage the new addition to the road. The roundabout is a single lane that will have crosswalks around it. There will not be any bike lanes.

A portion of the time also was devoted to explaining the basics of driving in a roundabout (for example, right-of-way goes to drivers already in the circle), which will be a new experience for many. Sniffen said a video will be made available on the DOT website that will explain how to use a roundabout.

Email Ivy Ashe at iashe@hawaiitribune-herald.com.