HILO — A much-anticipated mauka-makai connector along Alii Drive is one step closer to reality, following final publication last month of a finding of no significant environmental impact.
Oneo Lane, an approximately 600-foot-long road, will connect Alii Drive with Kuakini Highway between Coconut Grove Marketplace and the Kona Billfisher. It’s expected to cost about $5 million, Public Works Director Warren Lee said Tuesday.
Lee said the county must next get special management area and other permits and start the design phase of the project. He expects the project to be able to go out for a construction bid in late spring or summer next year.
“It’s a start,” Lee said.
The county chose the so-called “red route,” north of the other alternative, the “green route,” after taking public input and studying archaeological reports. The red route was chosen because it had less impact on historical and archaeological sites and was the choice of a number of residents of the Kona Billfisher condominiums who submitted comments on the project. The condo owners fear noise, and light pollution from the new road.
“We have been aware of this project for a few years now or at least the planning. I look at it as a possible positive for the Kona Billfisher owners,” said William Johnston in a Sept. 3 letter to the county. “Hopefully it will reduce traffic flow on Alii Drive and maybe even cut us off from the musical night life just on the other side of the vacant property where the new road would go.”
Others suggested rock or lava walls and shields on the streetlights to reduce glare into condo windows.
“Build a 10-foot sound barrier between the Billfisher and the new road which will buffer car noise and hopefully spare the amount of fumes going to the Billfisher,” suggested W. Robert Gadsby in a Sept. 6 letter to the county.
The county isn’t planning on a wall or sound barrier, as the wall would do more harm than good, in the opinion of consultants Parsons Brinckerhoff.
“Such a wall would impede access to the privately owned remnant property between the proposed Oneo Lane and the Kona Billfisher property,” said project manager Rachel Adams in a May 11 letter to a neighboring resident. “Additionally, a wall is not deemed necessary as Oneo Lane is not expected to significantly impact the noise levels in the area.”
The road will feature two lanes, plus a center turn lane. There will be bike paths and sidewalks on both sides, according to plans published in the May 23 Environmental Notice.
The intersection of Oneo Lane and Kuakini Highway would be signalized to mitigate traffic congestion because of vehicles turning left onto Oneo Lane from Kuakini Highway. Similarly, the intersection of Oneo Lane and Alii Drive would be signalized to mitigate traffic congestion because of vehicles turning left onto Oneo Lane from Alii Drive.
The road has been on the drawing board a long time. Funds for the project, earmarked from gas tax revenues, lapsed in 2014 as money was diverted to the lava emergency in Puna. The money was reappropriated by the County Council in January.
The second phase of the project, an approximately 2,000-foot mauka section between Hualalai Road and Kuakini Highway, is projected to be completed by 2020. The existing Nani Kailua Drive currently terminates at Hualalai Road.
The project is being proposed to provide additional mauka-makai connectivity within the area and relieve traffic congestion at the Hualalai Road/Alii Drive intersection by redirecting some traffic off Alii Drive and onto Kuakini Highway, planners said.