Hawaii Tribune-Herald: Your Views for September 28
August 09, 2021
Martha “Cory” Harden in her letter (Got trucks?, Your Views, Sep. 6), questioned the impacts of Honua Ola’s logging trucks on traffic and noted perceived similarities to cane trucks in the sugar plantation days.
To put things into perspective, on average, 8,500 vehicles use Hawaii Belt Road each day according to the Department of Transportation. Honua Ola will only average 33 truckloads per day between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. Consequently, the presence of trucks servicing Honua Ola will be insignificant and should put to rest any concerns about the “long lines of exasperated drivers” Ms. Harden imagines.
Many trucks of the same size and weight are already using the same roadways, without any reported problems. Plus, these truckers are professionals with commercial driver’s licenses equipped with the knowledge and special skills required to operate commercial motor vehicles like the trucks Honua Ola will use.
Ms. Harden may want to recall that if overgrown eucalyptus and albiza trees are not cut, we’ll have to worry about the dire impacts these trees can deliver during high wind conditions, like those that occurred with Iselle in 2014. The way I see it, Honua Ola is helping us manage and avert a dangerous situation which, left unchecked, threatens homes, structures, overhead transmission and telephone lines, roadways and streams.
While I do believe in drawing from our community’s past woes as a guide for future activities, I don’t think the example chosen is a credible analogy to the transport Honua Ola will use.–
Hawaii Tribune-Herald: Your Views for September 6
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2020/09/06/opinion/your-views-for-september-6-8/
Got trucks?
Will Honua Ola’s logging trucks be like the cane trucks we endured for years?
Huge cane trucks would sway through the horseshoe turns in the gulches, more than filling the oncoming lane. We called it “taking their half out of the middle.”
And at some point, on almost every Hamakua drive, we would catch up to a lumbering cane truck. Long lines of exasperated drivers would pile up behind, keeping an eye out for mud and debris falling off the truck.
When we ran out of patience, we would just go ahead and pass, often where it was less than safe, only to get stuck behind the next truck a few miles later.
No need for speed limits, we joked — no one could go faster than the slowest cane truck.
Martha “Cory” Harden
Hilo
Hawaii Tribune-Herald, September 28: https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2020/09/28/opinion/your-views-for-september-28-5/