As Climate Change Fuels Fires, A Big Island Community Has Only One Way Out … Residents of Waikoloa Village have for years pressed for a second road to evacuate the community of 7,100 and ease traffic.
SOUTH KOHALA — Even on a good day, getting in to or out of Waikoloa Village on Hawaii island can be a challenge.
Nearly all of the community, home to more than 7,100 people, is only accessible via Paniolo Road, which itself connects to Waikoloa Road at just one end. The village is, as resident Ruth A. Smith put it, “just one huge, giant cul-de-sac.”
It’s not just community members battling through the local traffic. Waikoloa Road is the closest route from the mountains toward the sea for commuters coming over Saddle Road and Daniel K. Inouye Highway from the island’s windward side to the resorts along the Kohala coast.
Amid continued growth in local population and regional traffic, as well as the persistent threat of fires, residents have for years sought to get another road from their community to Queen Kaahumanu Highway below.
