Big Island county officials have plans to open the more than 3-mile northern section of the Mamalahoa Bypass road next summer to try to ease Kona traffic congestion.

The bypass will be 5.42 miles and extend from Keauhou to Napo'opo'o Junction. The county plans to complete construction on the first segment of more than three miles in April 2008.

That north section of the bypass starts at the end of Ali'i Parkway and continues to Kealakekua's Kona Scenic subdivision, and motorists would then travel up Haleki'i Street to reconnect with Mamalahoa Highway.

The zoning ordinance that led to construction of the road by a private developer prohibits the use of Haleki'i as a connector road until the entire bypass is completed, but Mayor Harry Kim's administration will ask the County Council to change that so the public can use the completed northern section of the road, said Department of Public Works spokesman Bruce McClure.

The Planning Commission will consider that plan at its meeting Jan. 11 at King Kamehameha's Kona Beach Hotel in Kailua.