There is good news regarding the ongoing construction on Palani Road in Kailua Kona between Queen Ka’ahumanu Highway and Henry Street. The newly-created Ka’u/Southside lanes are now open while the contractor works on the old, to-be-improved Kohala side lanes.
The bad news: in this transition, the contractor removed the left turn lane for those coming down Palani Road turning makai on Henry Street. The result, starting last Monday, has been significant traffic backups at all times of the day as the makai-bound Palani Road traffic must wait for cars that are turning left–up until Monday, with the left turn lane operational, makai-bound cars could continue on. Drivers report the backup goes from the stop light at Kealaka’a Street all the way down to the Henry Street intersection.
County Department of Transportation spokeswoman Noelani Whittington addressed the situation Wednesday. The contractor apparently did not inform the County of the change, so starting Wednesday Whittington asked the contractor to see if there is a solution. She said they’re going to increase the timing of the mauka-makai stop light, to give more time for the mauka and makai traffic to pass. She said it’s not likely they’ll get special duty police who could be on hand to manually direct traffic, as it might be too difficult to schedule the officers on such short notice.
One thing is definite, the left-turn lane is not going back in, for now. Whittington did not have a date by which the situation might be improved, nor did she know why the contractor made such a significant change without adequate notice nor provision to prevent the backups which currently have Kona drivers more frustrated than usual.
