{"id":261,"date":"2026-05-25T12:09:37","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T12:09:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?p=261"},"modified":"2026-05-25T12:09:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T12:09:37","slug":"dozens-turn-out-for-dki-highway-extension-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?p=261","title":{"rendered":"Dozens turn out for DKI Highway extension meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p>A community meeting Wednesday night about the state Department of Transportation\u2019s newly revived proposal to extend Daniel K. Inouye Highway westward produced a number of questions but few concrete answers.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?p=259\">Wreaking Havoc: Hilo High alum Mark Turner making name for himself in pro ultimate frisbee<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>A community meeting Wednesday night about the state Department of Transportation\u2019s newly revived proposal to extend Daniel K. Inouye Highway westward produced a number of questions but few concrete answers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re still early in the project,\u201d DOT Highways Division Engineering Program Manager Ken Tatsuguchi told the 60 or so in attendance at the Waikoloa Elementary and Middle School Cafeteria.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The DKI Highway (Route 200), also known as Saddle Road \u2014 including the Puainako Street Extension in East Hawaii \u2014 stretches 52 miles between Hilo and the Mamalahoa Highway (Route 190) in South Kohala. The final piece of the DKI Highway would be about 10.5 miles, ending at Queen Kaahumanu Highway (Route 19).<\/p>\n<p>A draft environmental impact statement for the project was published in 2017, but the extension was shelved in 2018 after funding dried up, prior to completion of a final EIS.<\/p>\n<p>Tatsuguchi said arguments for the project\u2019s resumption include \u201creducing commercial traffic in Waimea and \u2026 on Mamalahoa Highway.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese plans will be updated because time has passed and \u2026 some of the conditions have changed,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n<p>Some questioned whether the rejection by the Board of Land and Natural Resources last year of an Army EIS for a lease renewal due in 2029 for almost 23,000 acres of state-owned land at Pohakuloa Training Center had anything to do with the new push for the Saddle Road extension.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat is the viability of this project if the lease is not renewed at Pohakuloa?\u201d asked South Kohala Traffic Safety Advisory Committee Chairman Gunner Mench.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLooking at the east-west connection and the benefits of taking the commercial trucks out of Waimea, there still is a need for additional funding to be attached to the project that the Army can\u2019t provide to us,\u201d Tatsuguchi replied. \u201cFunding is always a huge issue with all of our projects, especially large projects like this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lt. Col Tim Alvarado, who\u2019ll leave soon after three years as commanding officer as PTA, was in attendance with Lt. Col. Paul Park, who\u2019ll succeed Alvarado at the live-fire training facility in the Big Island\u2019s Saddle area that the Army considers of vital strategic importance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it\u2019s to be determined. We\u2019ve got a lot of time between now and that point in time,\u201d Alvarado said. \u201cBut as we continue to have these conversations and negotiations with everybody \u2026 we\u2019re going to have to wait and see.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>DOT spokeswoman Shelly Kunishige told the Tribune-Herald last month that as of last year, an updated estimate for the project\u2019s cost is $150 million.<\/p>\n<p>The DKI Highway itself wouldn\u2019t be in existence if not for federal defense funding, and DOT Director Ed Sniffen is reportedly in discussion with the Army about renewed funding once a final EIS is published, perhaps as early as summer 2028.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?p=257\">Big Island residents report damage from magnitude 6.0 quake<\/a><\/p>\n<p>A second draft EIS \u2014 which would add updated information piggybacked on the 2017 findings \u2014 has started due to $3 million in state funding procured in part by state Sen. Tim Richards and Rep. David Tarnas, Democrats who represent the district. It could be completed as early as fall 2027.<\/p>\n<p>Both legislators were present Wednesday and interacted with attendees, but neither actively participated in the meeting.<\/p>\n<p>A Waikoloa woman named Chris asserted the extension is needed to relieve traffic on Waikoloa Road. That traffic includes rubbish trucks going from the closed Hilo landfill to West Hawaii, plus freight and refrigerated food trucks traveling from Kawaihae Harbor and military convoys between Kawaihae and PTA.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s very dangerous \u2026 and they spent a bunch of money to repave this road a few years ago,\u201d Chris said.<\/p>\n<p>Three potential routes for the extension, which have been on the table since the 2017 draft EIS, were presented. Two of the routes would merge with Waikoloa Road at some point toward the western end.<\/p>\n<p>Tatsuguchi said the mergers with the already existent road were for economic reasons, but added that the shared road would be widened and fortified to accommodate heavier trucks and increased traffic.<\/p>\n<p>Another question left unanswered is what kind of interchanges would be constructed at any newly created intersections, and whether they\u2019ll be traffic signal lights or roundabouts, which have become increasingly prevalent in the past few years. When it was suggested that an interchange where the DKI Highway extension meets Waikoloa Road could be a roundabout, there were scattered snickers from attendees.<\/p>\n<p>Bo Kahui, executive director of the Kona nonprofit La\u2018i \u2018Opua 2020 and Saddle Road Task Force member, said that he has dreamed \u201cabout this phase being completed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe project itself is intended to keep us safe. That\u2019s the key,\u201d Kahui said. \u201cWe can take away that we would be doing the right thing for our community. And I think that\u2019s the intention, to make a safe road for us, our community, and connect our families.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ron Terry, a Hilo environmental impact consultant long associated with the project, facilitated the meeting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re sort of starting anew,\u201d Terry told attendees. \u201cYou know, we got pretty far along from 2010 to 2017. But it\u2019s been nine years since then. Conditions have changed on the Big Island. So, the project we got to at that point, is it still right? Is it still the right thing to do? Should we build this road or not? \u2026 And sometimes, when you come to a meeting like that, you think, \u2018Oh, it\u2019s a done deal. They\u2019re going to do that no matter what we say.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBelieve me, that\u2019s not the case at this point. And we can also make a number of changes in the project based on what our studies find and what people \u2026 tell us during this period.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Updates will be available on the project website at danielkinouyehwyextension.com.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?p=255\">Wembanyama, Spurs rout Thunder in Game 4 to even series<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Email John Burnett at john.burnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dozens turn out for DKI Highway extension meeting &#8211; Hawaii News | Hawaii Tribune-Herald<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":260,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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