A study to identify possible alternate traffic routes out of Puna could begin in early 2025.

The goal of the Puna Alternate Route Study is to find potential locations for another route into Puna in an effort to decrease the district’s reliance on Highway 130, its only major transit corridor, which is prone to heavy traffic congestion.

Efforts to develop an alternate route ramped up in the wake of the 2018 Kilauea eruption, when magma beneath the highway caused the pavement to bulge and crack, making residents concerned the road would be severed entirely.

In 2021, Puna Rep. Greggor Ilagan secured $1 million in state funds for an initial study, with Hawaii County to provide an additional $500,000. The County Council eventually moved to accept the state funds — albeit after briefly rejecting them in January — and added another $500,000 to the county’s share, bringing the total project funding to $2 million.

However, county Public Works Director Steve Pause said the study won’t commence until early 2025, and the project’s scope hasn’t yet been set nor has a consultant been selected.

Pause said via email that DPW is working with the county Department of Finance to secure the state’s $1 million contribution for the project. This, he said, should be worked out before the end of the year.

The extra $500,000 in county funds added to the initial state allocation will be used to expand the project’s scope.

Ilagan told the Hawaii Tribune-Herald the county cannot use the original $1.5 million allocated in 2021 for anything outside of what that allocation specified: in this case, a study of possible alternate routes makai of Highway 130.

By using the additional county funds, the study can be extended to areas mauka of the highway.

Pause noted via email that the study’s name has been changed from the Puna Makai Alternate Route Study to just the Puna Alternate Route Study, dropping the “Makai” specification.

Ilagan told the Tribune- Herald that he suspects the impending election has slowed down the process.

“Depending on who the next mayor is going to be, he’ll be the one carrying the torch,” Ilagan said, adding that while current Mayor Mitch Roth has been supportive of the project, a shakeup of the administration could leave the study in limbo. “I don’t blame them; it’s the right move. You ought to know who your mayor is before you do anything.”

Meanwhile, Ilagan said no additional funds for the study will be forthcoming from the state.

“This funding was secured years ago, and it was hard enough to do that,” he said.

Puna Council member Matt Kaneali‘i-Kleinfelder said other state lawmakers, including Sen. Joy San Buenaventura, had suggested at a recent town hall meeting the possibility of adding the study to the state’s capital improvement project list. However, San Buenaventura did not respond to requests for comment in time for this story.