SADDLE: BIG ISLE ROAD CONNECTION<\/p>\n
Officials hail island link for Hilo and West Hawaii<\/p>\n
By Rod Thompson<\/p>\n
POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Dec 12, 2008<\/p>\n
HILO \u00bb Federal, state and county officials opened a rebuilt, widened, 9-mile stretch of the 49-mile Saddle Road between Hilo and West Hawaii yesterday, part of a two-decade-long process of unifying the two sides of the Big Island.<\/p>\n
A previous segment was completed last year. To date, 17 miles of the project have been finished at a cost of $126.4 million, said project manager Dave Gedeon, of the Federal Highway Administration.<\/p>\n
“This is not just a road project. It’s part of building a community,” said state transportation Director Brennon Morioka. The island is “one big home rather than two separate regions,” he said.<\/p>\n
Mayor Billy Kenoi echoed the idea. At a time when some people in West Hawaii are resentful of Hilo, the road connects the community as a whole, Kenoi said.<\/p>\n
Walter Kunitake, head of the advisory Saddle Road Task Force, said he is happy with the current pace since construction began in 2004. “It’s wonderful, the speed. We’re on a roll now,” he said.<\/p>\n
The road bed for another 7-mile segment routed around the Army’s Pohakuloa Training Area is already complete.<\/p>\n
Paving is expected to start soon after New Year’s and to be completed roughly in September.<\/p>\n
U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye’s representative, Jennifer Goto Sabas, said $30 million is allotted for further construction, but Gedeon said more will be needed.<\/p>\n
Sabas emphasized that much of the justification for the project has been military need for access to Pohakuloa.<\/p>\n
“The vast majority of the dollars are defense dollars,” she said.<\/p>\n
That will change to nonmilitary highway dollars as the east and west ends of the road are constructed, Gedeon said, but the funding will still be almost 100 percent federal.<\/p>\n
A proposed state project would link the west end of Saddle Road to a new state highway down to the West Hawaii coast. Federal money might also pay for 80 percent of that, Gedeon said.<\/p>\n
HILO \u00bb Federal, state and county officials opened a rebuilt, widened, 9-mile stretch of the 49-mile Saddle Road between Hilo and West Hawaii yesterday, part of a two-decade-long process of unifying the two sides of the Big Island.<\/p>\n
A previous segment was completed last year. To date, 17 miles of the project have been finished at a cost of $126.4 million, said project manager Dave Gedeon, of the Federal Highway Administration.<\/p>\n
“This is not just a road project. It’s part of building a community,” said state transportation Director Brennon Morioka. The island is “one big home rather than two separate regions,” he said.<\/p>\n
Mayor Billy Kenoi echoed the idea. At a time when some people in West Hawaii are resentful of Hilo, the road connects the community as a whole, Kenoi said.<\/p>\n
Walter Kunitake, head of the advisory Saddle Road Task Force, said he is happy with the current pace since construction began in 2004. “It’s wonderful, the speed. We’re on a roll now,” he said.<\/p>\n
The road bed for another 7-mile segment routed around the Army’s Pohakuloa Training Area is already complete.<\/p>\n
Paving is expected to start soon after New Year’s and to be completed roughly in September.<\/p>\n
U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye’s representative, Jennifer Goto Sabas, said $30 million is allotted for further construction, but Gedeon said more will be needed.<\/p>\n
Sabas emphasized that much of the justification for the project has been military need for access to Pohakuloa.<\/p>\n
“The vast majority of the dollars are defense dollars,” she said.<\/p>\n
That will change to nonmilitary highway dollars as the east and west ends of the road are constructed, Gedeon said, but the funding will still be almost 100 percent federal.<\/p>\n
A proposed state project would link the west end of Saddle Road to a new state highway down to the West Hawaii coast. Federal money might also pay for 80 percent of that, Gedeon said.<\/p>\n
Source: http:\/\/www.starbulletin.com\/news\/hawaiinews\/20081212_Officials_hail_island_link_for_Hilo_and_West_Hawaii.html<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SADDLE: BIG ISLE ROAD CONNECTION Officials hail island link for Hilo and West Hawaii By Rod Thompson POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Dec 12, 2008 HILO \u00bb Federal, state and county officials opened a rebuilt, widened, 9-mile stretch of the 49-mile Saddle Road between Hilo and West Hawaii yesterday, part of a two-decade-long process of unifying … <\/p>\n