Longing for the Big Island (Honolulu, Hilo: 2015, credit, salary)
Big IslandThe Island of Hawaii
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I spent two months on the BI in 2015 and also in 2013. This year I'm on Oahu for two months as a volunteer at a retreat center. Wow, is the traffic terrible. No offense intended, but I don't think I could live here on a permanent basis. I love the open spaces. I have spent a lot of time hiking and have been doing some neat hikes on Oahu. The country side is beautiful and not so crowded. I like that.
Looking forward to my next visit to the Big Island!
Yes, and no. The last leg of the highway 130 improvement project greatly improved the "Kea'au Crawl". One is left thinking the effect is temporary with it still being the fastest growing part of the state. But I would take that crawl over my last rush hour experience in Honolulu any day.
Now that there is the improvements to Saddle Road, we get even less traffic than we had before. Kinda nice to not have to fuss about with traffic. The whole Hamakua coast has less traffic now since the Saddle Road is much improved.
Location: not sure, but there's a hell of a lot of water around here!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hotzcatz
Now that there is the improvements to Saddle Road, we get even less traffic than we had before. Kinda nice to not have to fuss about with traffic. The whole Hamakua coast has less traffic now since the Saddle Road is much improved.
FOR CHRISTS SAKES,, KEEP THAT TO YOURSELF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Over the last 2 days we drove from Hilo to Honokaa, and through Pahoa, Kapoho then down to Uncle Roberts. Traffic was not bad at all, at least not what I expected, even during peak times (sorry Jungjohann ��). There was a fair amount of work being done on the way to Honokaa: a couple stops/slow downs for mowing, one for painting stripes on the road and then a bridge being built. Still moved pretty goood.
We thought it a bit strange that a section of the highway going to Ke'au had 2 lanes but you could only use 1 lane except for certain times. My GF and I had a good debate as to why they would do that, but ultimately couldn't think of a good reason.
Apparently they thought the outside lane was too narrow for full time use, except at rush hour? Go figure. That is changing soon, the highway will be restriped to 4 lanes, 4 narrow lanes. It will still end at Shower Drive.
Interesting. Hey Leilaniguy - if I remember correctly you live down by Nanawale, right? Is it raining down there now? We are planning on exploring the area today and it's going pretty good in Hilo right now. We brought 1 umbrella but might swing by wally world and pick up another.
Hawaii DOT seems very creative when it comes to using lanes. Here on Kauai, we have the "cones" (aka contra flow) on Kuhio Hwy from Wailua (s of Kapaa) to Hanamaulu (n of Lihue). That section of road has 2 lanes northbound and one southbound, so every Monday-Saturday, they manually put out cones to make 2 lanes southbound (and 1 north). Moving one lane is easy, but they also put cones and signs for all the left turn lanes that get moved over too. And then there is always a few confused tourists who turn left from the old turn lane across the cone lane. All in all, it works, but I have to wonder about the cost of adding a single lane vs a whole crew salary and equipment year after year (all 12 years I've been here).
Then I was on some freeway on Oahu last weekend and saw a strange sign about using the shoulder lanes during rush hour--I think it was down by the airport somewhere. Sure enough, I look over into the emergency shoulder lane and there are tire marks there from use. I didn't read the whole sign (my Kauai-driving skills being overwhelmed by 7 lanes of traffic and signs for Honolulu in 2 different directions), but maybe it was only for buses.
So on the one hand, I give the roads people credit for using what resources they have and getting more lanes to handle traffic. On the other hand, all the unfamiliar flow control really confuses people who are not used to that island's specific quirks.
Interesting. Hey Leilaniguy - if I remember correctly you live down by Nanawale, right? Is it raining down there now? We are planning on exploring the area today and it's going pretty good in Hilo right now. We brought 1 umbrella but might swing by wally world and pick up another.
I'm living in Kapoho right now. It was hard horizontal rain earlier here, sunny now, but Nanawale might be another story.
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