Saddle Road Re-alignment Project

[Konaguy]

I took some pictures of the ongoing Saddle Road re-alignment project. Which I posted on my blog if anyone is interested in seeing (link (http://aaronstene.blogspot.com/2007/02/saddle-road-re-alignment.html))

[beaker]

Wish they had stopped when they got to Pu'u Huluhulu. Not looking forward to the mess they're going to make on the east side of the saddle, or the loss of wilderness access during construction.

[Bard]

Interesting. I really want to see the Saddle Road but I suspect rental car companies are not going to be happy allowing it. Though I hear there is one that does, but they're super pricey...

[beaker]

Interesting. I really want to see the Saddle Road but I suspect rental car companies are not going to be happy allowing it.

The rental "prohibitions" aren't really about Saddle Road itself. There's no problem with Saddle Road - it's as good as any road on the island. (a low standard, indeed) It's the side roads off of saddle road they don't want people driving rental cars on, like up Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa (worn brakes, stressed engines, rock damage), and down Keanakolu Road or Hilo-Kona Road (suspension damage, rock damage, stuck vehicles in remote locations).

[Konaguy]

Wish they had stopped when they got to Pu'u Huluhulu. Not looking forward to the mess they're going to make on the east side of the saddle, or the loss of wilderness access during construction.

Actually between m.m 19-m.m 28,the existing road will be re-constructed. In other words, the road will use generally the same path as the existing road.The big difference is the hairpin turns and the overall road will be rebuilt. If you drive up there you'll see what I mean. I've only seen one place where they had to deviate from the existing road. In that case, the hairpin turn was too much to be re-constructed. When they get around to do m.m 9- m.m 19 and m.m 6 to m.m 9, they'll probably re-construct the road, not re-align.

On the other hand, after m.m 28, Saddle Road will be completely re-aligned. They are almost finished between m.m 28 to m.m 35. They've already done the sub grade work between m.m 37 to m.m 40. The next project will be sub grade work between m.m 35 to m.m 37. They are planning to go as far as m.m 42 at this point. Between m.m 42 and Malamahoa has not been funded yet.

[Konaguy]

The rental "prohibitions" aren't really about Saddle Road itself. There's no problem with Saddle Road - it's as good as any road on the island. (a low standard, indeed)

Are you trying to be funny ? Saddle Road is the worst road on this island. The existing road dates back to WWII.Worse yet, there is lots of potholes and hairpin turns. So I completely welcome this re-alignment/re-construction of Saddle Road.

[alohabear]

Are you trying to be funny ? Saddle Road is the worst road on this island. The existing road dates back to WWII.Worse yet, there is lots of potholes and hairpin turns. So I completely welcome this re-alignment/re-construction of Saddle Road.
I say the South Point road is the worst, and rentals are always down there. Just take it slow and easy and there should be no problem. The visitors take the risks just to see the beauty, so why can't the locals? Just take the friendly advice and stay off the mountains. BTW, Harpers in Hilo will rent you a 4wheel drive to go up the mountains.

[Miulang]

Yeah, I think the smoother and straighter the road, the more likely people will want to speed and get into accidents. The highway that runs behind Kihei on Maui now (Pi'ilani) is 2 lanes both ways and it's straight and smooth, and there's usually one fatal accident there every other month or so...the most often cause is speeding (or having two cars drag race in the middle of other traffic).

Miulang

[timkona]

Too bad there is no road from Kealakekua up to the Saddle Road. South Kona Residents have to drive around Kau or up Waimea side to get to Hilo.

[Bard]

I say the South Point road is the worst, and rentals are always down there.

Is what they say about South Point true, that people set up down there and try to charge for parking even though they can't really do that?

People used to do that in Austin right by my office downtown. I nearly got into some arguments with some of them a couple of times because they would actually take vacant lots that we parked in during the day and try to tell us to pay them for parking when we left in the evening :mad:

I read about Harpers. I was thinking about going over there and renting something for a day to go to these areas that the normal rental cars can't usually go. They're all over the island though and I'd probably pay as much for gas as I did the rental :)

[craigwatanabe]

Are you trying to be funny ? Saddle Road is the worst road on this island. The existing road dates back to WWII.Worse yet, there is lots of potholes and hairpin turns. So I completely welcome this re-alignment/re-construction of Saddle Road.

When was the last time you drove down Kapiolani Blvd on Oahu!:D

Actually Saddle Road is relatively nice compared to parts of Puna. Just this past weekend I decided to try the shortcut from Olaa road from Kurtistown to Orchidland via Pohaku Drive onto Pahoa Highway instead of driving all the way around back thru Keaau Town and backtrack onto Pahoa Highway, in a 1986 Honda Accord LX.

After driving through what looked like the surface of Mars I started wondering if I should turn back until I saw this lady coming from the other direction in a beat up Taurus sedan. Okay if she can make it so can I. Then I came to the washed out cement bridge. How the heck did this lady get thru?

I saw the tire tracks straddle both edges of the widest part of the only span of bridge left. Both outside edges of the tire tracks were over the crumbled section of bridge. I figured if I could keep the car centered on this slab of cement I could make it to the other side and since my car was narrower than the Taurus. I made it home and I figured if I needed to get to Kurtistown faster I could use this passage again.

Saddle road isn't that bad, I've seen worse on any given day in HPP, Orchidland, Hawaiian Acres, Kapoho and virtually anywhere in Pahoa. The worst part of Saddle is on the West side of Pohakuloa but even that's better than 12th street in HPP or 40th street in Orchidland.

[Konaguy]

I haven't ventured into the deep dark parts of Puna, so I'll rephrase what I said. Saddle Road is the worst road I've driven on this island. So I'm eagerly awaiting the completion of the re-alignment/re-construction of at least between m.m 19 to m.m 42.

[Bard]

Both outside edges of the tire tracks were over the crumbled section of bridge. I figured if I could keep the car centered on this slab of cement I could make it to the other side and since my car was narrower than the Taurus.

:eek:

Didn't you also have an adventure in that area driving through some slightly overgrown roads with rather large edges? I seem to remember reading that a while back...

Makes me think of a Stephen King story in the collection Skeleton Crew. Lady tries to find shorter and shorter shortcuts, through jungles, forests, whatever, until she's getting there before she leaves, she comes back from each trip younger than when she left, and her car starts going feral.

[craigwatanabe]

:eek:

Didn't you also have an adventure in that area driving through some slightly overgrown roads with rather large edges? I seem to remember reading that a while back...

Makes me think of a Stephen King story in the collection Skeleton Crew. Lady tries to find shorter and shorter shortcuts, through jungles, forests, whatever, until she's getting there before she leaves, she comes back from each trip younger than when she left, and her car starts going feral.

I wish I could find that road:)

But the best adventure in Puna was when my wife attempted to drive the entire family in our Chevy Astrovan thru Old Government road from Hawaiian Beaches to HPP. There's a map that says there is an unimproved road that connects the two subdivisions. At 2.5 miles in we had to turn around as the road (more like a washed out river bed) abruptly came to a 14-inch high vertical change in elevation. No way around this ledge and what convinced me to turn around was the sight of a 4x4 truck that had attempted this ledge from the other side and ended up rolled (several times) down the embankment in the thick Guava trees. That truck musta been there for a few years as branches were growing thru the cab.

I told my wife if our van ever got stuck out here forget calling a tow truck cuz it ain't coming out in this jungle. Basically travel thru this road is by ATV or Motocross bikes only. Too narrow for automobiles. Our van was scratched on both sides by guava branches.

[beaker]

Actually between m.m 19-m.m 28,the existing road will be re-constructed. In other words, the road will use generally the same path as the existing road.The big difference is the hairpin turns and the overall road will be rebuilt. If you drive up there you'll see what I mean. I've only seen one place where they had to deviate from the existing road. In that case, the hairpin turn was too much to be re-constructed.

Yeah, that's the prime hiking area on the Saddle. I'm there 3 days a week to explore the saddle, and drive through there on my way to work. They barely missed destroying the turn-off for the wilderness access a couple months back, but when construction works its way down there again it'll probably be wrecked for a year. Historical features are going to be wrecked, they're cutting down large strips of forest, and I'm not optimistic that they'll restore all the wilderness access when they're done. The East side of the road was freshly paved not too long ago. It's nice and smooth. There are no "hairpin turns" on Saddle Road, it's just a bit curvy. I'm certainly against trying to turn it from a pleasant back-country road into a speeders highway. Most of the potholes and ripple on the plateau are due to the heavy water tankers and construction equipment for the road construction anyhow. They're small and easy to steer around.

[Bard]

But the best adventure in Puna was when my wife attempted to drive the entire family in our Chevy Astrovan thru Old Government road from Hawaiian Beaches to HPP.

That's the one I was thinking of. Thanks :)

[beaker]

I say the South Point road is the worst

Heh, you obviously haven't tried Skyline Drive, Keanakolu Road, Tree Planting Road, Mud Lane, or many of the other of our wide variety adventure "roads" yet. The roads that run straight up the mountainside in South Kona and Hamakua are a lot of fun, too.