Wailua Bridge, What Now?

A news release states that the Wailua bridge will have a lane or two closed for construction over the next few nights. This is just the latest inconvenience for Kauai motorist. The Wailua bridge project which has been going on since summer time, has extended traffic woes for an already congested island commute. Bundle the bridge project with the lane widening near Kukui Grove, getting from Kapaa to Puhi can be over an hour long affair.

Hopefully, when the projects are complete - who knows when - the stresses of paradise rush hour will be eliminated. For now the construction is just a reminder of how inept and ineffective our county can operate. Once again a project has hit several snags while in stages of incompletion.

Why can’t we come up with better systems for announcing projects, giving voice for concern, preparing for all posible objections, and solidify planning, before breaking ground. Whether is it the lack of proper environmental impact studies, clearances from native Hawaiian groups, or following proper regulatory protocol, it seems that Kauai runs into more show stopper than is reasonable.

Is this a product of buddy-buddy hiring in the Kauai government, unqualified workers, gross oversights and/or lack of vision, or is this typical small county business?