TRAFFIC
ISSUES ON KAUAI
July 2006, the traffic remains especially
congested in the Kapaa/Wailua
Corridor. The County and State are working together to try and resolve
this problem as best as they can, but still at a very slow pace.
According to a recent televised meeting between Mayor Baptiste and
Steve Kyono of the DOT and Doug Haigh of the County, the following
was stated:
The old sugar cane bridge over the Wailua River has just been checked
to see if it can handle the load to become a two lane bridge along with
the
new addition of the bike path. It has passed the load test with flying
colors.
Between now and March 2007, the county will work on the design
and then
turn that over to the State DOT. The State will put out bids for
the work in
June 2007, and the bid opening should be in October 2007.
Once the notice
to proceed is issued by the State, the contractor will have
11 months to
finish the project. The 11 months may be shortened
depending on how often
the Bridge is closed during initial stages of the
expansion. Given these
timelines, we may have the new expanded bridge
in operation by Christmas
of 2008. Let's hope !!
In conjunction with the bridge widening, the plan is to widen Kuhio
Highway
to four lanes (two lanes in each direction) between the Bridge
and going North
until the Temporary Bypass Road (which is located
almost across from the North
end of Papaloa Road, where our Real Estate
office is located). This will allow
for
the South bound traffic going through
Kapaa to have one dedicated lane and
the
traffic coming off of the
Temporary Bypass Road will have it's own lane too.
To accomplish this
the County and State are working with the developers of
the
new
Coco Palms Resort to obtain the additional lane. The full design of this
fourth lane on Kuhio Highway should be done by June 2007, with the
build out to
be completed in conjunction with the completion of the Bridge.
So again,
hopefully
by Christmas of 2008.
On September 08, 2007, it was announced that the bridge widening
construction is scheduled to begin in March 2008 and be completed in
February 2009.
OTHER TRANSPORTATION ISSUES:
The Northern end of the Temporary Bypass Road has
been opened.
It is only one way from North to South, towards Lihue. This is really
the second phase of the three phases to be completed. The first
phase
was the middle section which runs southerly
from next to the Kapaa
Ball Park
at
Olohena Road until it reaches Kuhio
Highway at across
from our Real Estate
office
at the North end of
Papaloa Road.
The second phase is the Northern end going
North
from Olohena Road
(as described above) to Kuhio Highway almost to
the North end
of
Kapaa town near the Kawaihau and Hauaala Road
intersections of
Kuhio Highway.
The third phase is still being worked on
via an
environmental impact study. Once
that
is completed this third phase
should give rise to a brand new bridge over the
Wailua
River and is still
about twenty years away, by our estimates. That means our guess will be
by the year 2028, or so.
A new street light should be added on Kuhio
Highway where it intersects
with Lani Kai
Road which is where the famous Kintaro's Restaurant is
located. This new light
is to be
completed along with the new 80+ unit
development that has been approved for the
large vacant lot across the
street from Kintaro's.
The Kauai Bikepath:
This new addition to Kauai is an ongoing, multi-phased event. The County
of Kauai is obtaining major federal funding to install a continuous Bikepath
around as much of Kauai as they can get approvals for. This has been, and
will continue to be, an ongoing tug-of-war between all of those involved.
This pathway is really a great thing for Kauai, but there are always nay Sayers,
as well as politics, as well as property owners not wanting it in their area.
The Kauai County Council has been at odds with its
own Kauai Planning
Department over issues related to this bikepath. Well, that's Kauai.
The section of the bikepath in the Lydgate Park
area is completed. The section
of the bikepath in the Northern end of Kapaa is under construction. The section
of the bikepath in the Southern end of Kapaa is in the final approval
stages.
The sections in Lihue and North of Kapaa are still in the planning and approval
stages. So, the many sections that are on the eastern side of Kauai are in
process. The rest of the island will be addressed as the process moves on.
The highlights that we are watching, since it is
very near our office location are:
The to-be-expanded bridge, as mentioned above,
will have the bikepath as
part of that expansion, on the side of the new extra lane.
The bikepath is to run along almost the entire
length of Papaloa Road and end
at the Coconut Marketplace, right across the street from our office.
The bikepath is also to extend along Lani Kai Road
and cross Kuhio Highway
at the to-be-installed street light. Once on the mauka side of Kuhio Highway
it is to travel northerly parallel to Kuhio Highway. It will have to cross the
Kapaa Bypass Road which will be done by way of a new round-about. This
is being done to allow for a safer crossing without installing another street
light. It will continue north until it reaches the Foodland and the Safeway
Shopping Centers. The bikepath will then cross back over Kuhio Highway
at, or just north of, the Safeway Center.
CHANGES:
There are more changes coming to Kauai. More
growth by way of
commercialism. Whether you think it is good or bad does not
matter.
It is coming.
Yes, as of August 2007, we already have a K-Mart, a Wal-Mart, a Home
Depot, a
Safeway, a Macy's, a Sears and a new Costco, along with several
StarBucks, McDonalds, Taco Bells,
Pizza Huts and Burger Kings.
So, Kauai is slowly becoming like the rest of America
(as well as the World).
Is that a good thing?
There are some old outdated notes on some of these same
issues and you
can look at that page by clicking HERE.