Road to lava flow nets $3,420 in fees

By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

KALAPANA, Hawai'i — Hawai'i County collected $3,420 over the weekend from fees for use of an access road to get closer to where lava from the Kilauea flow is entering the ocean.

"We had to adjust the toll booth's location, but I would say it was a successful start," said Bruce Butts, Civil Defense deputy administrator.

Deputy Finance Director Nancy Crawford volunteered to collect fees on Saturday. She said she received only three complaints about the charge. Staffing is being done on a day-to-day basis without any particular county agency responsible for collecting the fees.

County figures show that 369 private cars used the access road Saturday and 263 Sunday, in addition to a total of 13 commercial vehicles for the weekend.

The number of visitors was considered less than the estimated 400 vehicles a day that came to area in the two weeks it was open before a portion of the road was covered by lava. The new lava was cleared and vehicles were readmitted Saturday.

Mayor Harry Kim's decision to charge private cars $5 and small commercial vans $20 is intended to generate money to maintain safe conditions in the area, officials said. Those owning property in the area and Native Hawaiians practicing gathering rights are exempt from the charges.

The cost of collecting the money was not immediately known.

The county will seeking temporary, noncivil-service hires, perhaps Kalapana residents, to collect fees and manage the more than two miles of roadway carved out from numerous lava flows that have criss-crossed the area since the eruption began in January 1983.

Butts said he detected almost no opposition to the fees. The only complaint he received was about the location of a sign and the heat from the roadway. "That's because there was a flow over the area just last week," Butts said.