Raising the taxes of local residents is not the answer to relieving traffic congestion on Kauai.  While the gas tax and vehicle weight tax might be better options than raising the General Excise Tax, the best option is no tax increase at all for local residents.

In case this point is not clear I will repeat: Increasing taxes will not decrease traffic congestion.

Yes, we need to support public transportation but the cost of those improvements should be borne through taxes and fees paid by the visitor industry who contribute a disproportionate number of cars to our highways daily.

The answer to relieving traffic congestion is not a County tax increase, but is simply getting our State government to do its job and fix our State highways.

The infamous “Kapaa Crawl” occurs daily along Kuhio Highway which is a State Highway.  Increasing County taxes to repave and improve County roads will have no impact on the traffic nightmare occurring daily along Kuhio Highway.  From Kawaihau Road to the North all the way to the tunnel of trees to the South and beyond, the traffic is horrendous and this entire stretch is a State highway.

It is our State governments responsibility to fix our State highways and it is long past time for our community to send a message loud and clear to our 4 State legislators, our State Department of Transportation and to our Governor.  Kuhio Highway in Kapaa is a disaster and the State of Hawaii needs to treat it with the urgency and importance it deserves.  The amount of money and time wasted daily in traffic is only part of it.  When a tsunami or other disaster requiring evacuation occurs at some point in the future, the results could be catastrophic.

Numerous small but worthy fixes have been proposed over the past 10 years but nothing has been done.  Even small fixes would provide some relief but nothing at all has been done and our community has reached its boiling point, again.  The last time, public sentiment boiled over it was “voila” and almost like magic the so-called temporary by-pass was created.  Prior to that it took an angry population and articles in the Wall Street Journal and again “voila” and the famous “contra flow” solution was seemingly instantly brought to life.

Some of the “fixes” to the Kapaa traffic are listed here: http://www.wkna.org/docs/KapaaTransportationSolutions-Aug2015-2-Chptr5-Implementation-reduced.pdf

And more detail including excellent maps is here: http://www.wkna.org/docs/KapaaTransportationSolutions-Aug2015-AppendixB-reduced.pdf

It is time once again for the community to express its outrage and dissatisfaction with the neglect shown by State government.  We cannot afford to wait another decade, or even another election cycle

Please support “Resolution 2016- 31” scheduled for this Wednesday March 9 at the Historic County Building asking our State government to “…acknowledge the urgency and importance of addressing the extreme traffic congestion existing within the Kapa’a — Wailua Traffic Corridor and request that the State DOT accelerate the development of highway improvements in recognition of the emergency situation that exists.”

Read the entire Resolution here: http://kauai.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?meta_id=99308

Please offer testimony in support of Resolution 2016 – 31 here: counciltestimony@kauai.gov

Add your name to that of the Kauai County Council and send a message loud and clear to our State legislators, the State DOT and the office of the Governor.  We need help now.