8/7/23 #kihei

What a long strange trip it’s been, but finally after countless delays, postponements, missteps, misrepresentations and deception, today two class levels, freshmen and sophomores had their first day in this brand new, if unfinished, modern high school. The community was told the only way to reach the school was by motor vehicle, so if the Hawaii Department of Education’s (HDOE) plan all along was to insure that no student would be able to walk, cycle or arrive to school by any other means except by motor vehicle, this morning looked like they achieved their goal.

Southbound highway drivers enter the roundabout

While not constant, from about 7:20 to 8:40 am this morning, we did a lot of observing in the vicinity of the Pi’ilani Hwy roundabout. We saw no pedestrians anywhere nearby. We saw two cyclists heading south on the Hwy, but no way related to the school. We saw several school busses on the highway also heading south, unrelated to the high school. We did see one traveling north that did turn right to enter the high school, and shortly after, exit and continue driving north, which we assume deposited some keiki. We also saw numerous private vehicles enter the school from both directions on the Hwy and a few heading east on Kulanhakoi, crossing through the roundabout as designed.

Cars herding up the hill toward the school. Most were driving north on the Hwy, but a few going south went up the roundabout, while few other came from Kulanihakoi.

How was the overall driving? The vast majority followed the rules very well. The few errors leaned toward overly cautious actions, resulting in some horn blasts. We did see two vehicles heading south in the right lane, cut off left lane drivers as they realized they wanted to go around and up to the school, but no physical was damage done.

Early arrivals (7:20 am) showed an almost empty roundabout

We carefully observed large vehicles (busses, long trucks, tractor trailers, and a LOT of cement trucks) heading south. Again, the vast majority cruised right through in the lanes. But we did see two truly inept drivers who would come in last in the National Truck Rodeo. While in the right lane, instead of using the drivable red curbing designed for it on their right side, they veered into the left lane. Fortunately cars in the left lane DID use the curbing on their left side to avoid contact.

So in this first glimpse on day one, no hits, bumps or (serious) errors, and no walking nor biking.