Keep the North Shore Sane

This blog will be about the North Shore of Oahu. The focus will be on the politics, economics and lifestyle of the North Shore. The North Shore is such a small place, people are often intimidated and do not speak their mind. Here you can speak your mind. I accept guest posts either by name or anonymously as long as they are not obscene. Let's argue, let's be opinionated and let's really dig down into the issues that affect our lives here on the North Shore of Oahu.

Thursday, September 07, 2006

We Need a Road, the Feds are Buiding a Road. Let's Share.

The U.S. Army as part of the plan to accommodate the Stryker Brigade, is going to build a road from generally Schofield/Wahiawa to the Turtle Bay area so military vehicles can bypass public roads - mainly Kamehameha Hwy.

People of the North Shore, we should do everything we can to have the road built to have public access on it, even if it is on a limited basis. Here are some some of the benefits

Traffic - On the weekends the road between Haleiwa and Waimea is frequently grid locked. There is no way to get rid of that traffic. This road would provide a means to bypass Kam Hwy between Punaluu and Haleiwa.

There is nothing else that can be done to help move things along along other than build a road that gets people off of Kam Hwy or else make Kam Hwy a 4 lane road - nobody wants that and it is not practical.

Safety - Currently there is one way out of the North Shore up to Haleiwa and through the entire windward side. When a traffic accident happens, brushfire, landslide, a broken water main, etc. that forces a road closure, both public traffic and emergency vehicles have to literally go around the island - a two hour trip. There needs to be an additional egress and access road that enables evacuation. There is also a very strong likelihood that Kahuku Hospital could fail. If that were the case, someone that is in distress would have a 40 to possible 90 minute drive to Wahiawa Hospital under current conditions. Double it if the ambulance has to get here from there. With an mini "H-4" road drive time to Wahiawa would be about 15 - 20 minutes and that would save lives. The grid locked traffic on Kam Hwy in also impeding lifeguards, police and fire depts... from being able to get to emergencies.

The Environment - hundreds if not thousands of idling cars on a weekend that back up from Haleiwa past Shark's Cove are not environmentally friendly. Also the added mileage that people from the North Shore - Kahuku, Laie, Hauula to get to their jobs, run errands, etc. is wasteful and expensive.

This is a federal project. Senators Akaka and Inouye and Congressman Ed Case need to get this going. Also, it would also need the support of Linda Lingle, Mufi Hannemann and local legislator Donavan De La Cruz and Michael Magouay.

The Mormon community of Laie needs to get behind it - for the same safety, traffic and environmental reasons as above, but also for the economic interests of enabling their church members to get to work more efficiently and enabling visitors to BYUH and the Polynesian Cultural Center easier access.

*The Kahuku, Hauula, Punaluu Community needs to be behind it - this enables the people of Kahuku much easier access to amenities, safety and economic benefits of being able to reasonably commute to work outside of the North Shore.

The Sunset Beach Community will probably never be behind anything that requires more than a shovel to be used. It would be historical to get them to support anything.

Copy Local 5 and the Defend Oahu Coalition Methods - They have done an amazing job of getting their concerns heard by the Media. First send letters to the editor regarding the road. Then get The Advertiser to do a major article on it (at this point TV and radio cover it) and then get The Advertiser to do an editorial either for or against the idea. From that point forward all coverage they have either supports of negates the "idea". We need the Paper's support, and some key radio personalities for it.

This is a HUGE benefit for the North Shore. - It helps the North Shore save time, gas and money. - It protects us in case of accidents and emergencies. - It is the only way we can get traffic off of Kam Hwy.

CAN ANYONE HELP GET THIS DONE?

2 Comments:

  • At 9/12/2006 8:09 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    So your solution is to do nothing? Keep having traffic jams so traffic will not come here?

    Laie is getting a hotel and houses. Kahuku is getting houses. Turtle Bay even if they do half of their plans is getting a hotel and condos.

    We need another plan over here, I'd like to hear yours.

     
  • At 9/14/2006 12:03 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Here is my two cents worth, we did not start having the traffic like we do until the turtles at Lanikea started to come in 5-6 years ago and the tourist companies started to have this stop in their inteniary, at least on the week days. Granted weekends have always been bad and big surf even worse, but what would happen if there was no parking on either side of the road starting at Lanikea and ending several blocks past Chuns. If you wanted to go to Lanikea/Turtle Beach, you have to hoof it. And this would be whether they put in another road or not. Or do what DLNR State Parks does, if you are a commercial company and want to bring people to State Hiking Trails, its $5 a head. This may keep the stopping from tourist busses to a minimum. The orginization that donates its time now to look after the turtles could possibly enforce this prepaid fee and if not paid/documents, report them to DLNR.

     

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