Drivers will have at least a few more months before a lengthy road project alters the intersection of Highway 130 and Pahoa Village Road.
Drivers will have at least a few more months before a lengthy road project alters the intersection of Highway 130 and Pahoa Village Road.
The state Department of Transportation is currently anticipating construction of a roundabout at the Pahoa entrance to begin in January.
The $5 million project is estimated to take a year to complete, with traffic detoured around the intersection.
It was initially planned to start this summer.
DOT spokeswoman Caroline Sluyter said the start date was pushed back to allow the department and the state Historic Preservation Division to formalize the project’s archaeological monitoring plan.
“The anticipated January 2014 construction start is subject to change pending SHPD’s approval of the plan,” she said.
The roundabout is needed, DOT officials have said, to reduce traffic wrecks at the notoriously dangerous intersection, which lacks a traffic light.
The idea proved controversial at a public meeting in Pahoa last January, when several Puna residents said a roundabout would be a poor solution, and lead to confusion among motorists not used to negotiating traffic circles.
Roundabouts direct traffic in a counter-clockwise rotation. They lack stop signs and lights, and require motorists to yield to traffic in the circle as they enter.
Proponents of these intersections, common in Europe, say they allow traffic to flow continually and reduce head-on and broadside collisions by requiring drivers to only take right-hand turns.
A 2011 DOT report noted roundabouts reduce traffic injuries and fatalities but also present challenges for motorists who have had little experience with them.
Construction of the roundabout may also occur while a new commercial development is built nearby on land currently used by Bryson’s Cinders.
That proposed project would involve the extension of Kahakai Boulevard, but a consultant said no street work would occur while the roundabout is being built.