Posted on: Friday, September 7, 2001

Hawai'i County to reopen Kalapana lava road

By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

KALAPANA, Hawai'i — Big Island officials yesterday decided to bulldoze through a lava flow that covered a newly opened access road last weekend and allow vehicles in starting tomorrow.

The unpaved Kalapana access road was opened Aug. 17, then closed a week ago when a finger of lava from the Kilauea eruption threatened. The flow oozed over the path last weekend.

Officials yesterday said the lava had cooled enough to allow for bulldozing and a new layer of cinder to make the road passable.

Big Island Mayor Harry Kim also announced new fees will be imposed for vehicles using the road. The county will collect $5 per private vehicle and $20 per commercial vehicle, limited to those carrying 15 passengers or less. Kalapana area residents and Native Hawaiians pursuing traditional gathering activities will not have to pay the fee.

Kim said the income will help pay for repair costs and management of the site, which was inundated in its first two weeks by an estimated 12,000 residents and tourists seeking a closer look at the lava flow as it enters the ocean.

Hawai'i County Corporation Counsel Lincoln Ashida said his staff researched the mayor's authority to impose fees without a County Council ordinance and concluded it was legal.

The mayor's office also announced new hours for the access road. The area will now be open from 10 a.m. daily, with the last vehicles allowed in at 8:15 p.m. The gates will be locked at 10 p.m. Civil Defense Deputy Director Bruce Butts said county crews returned to the area yesterday afternoon to re-install signs taken down last week and set up some portable toilets.