(ABOVE VIDEO) Drive-through on Railroad Avenue taken on Saturday (Dec. 20) at noon. Video by David Corrigan, includes inset video from the blessing ceremony held at 10 a.m. and a route map posted on the Hawaii County Department of Public Works website.
NOTES
- On Saturday at noon Railroad Avenue was opened to motorists.
- FILMING: We used a GoPro mounted to our vehicle (Toyota Prius) to film the drive. We maintained the 20 mile per hour speed limit through out the drive, on average. We found we tended to go under 20 mph on the Nanawale to Hawaiian Shores / Beaches segment, which has a few sharp turns. It was easier to accidentally exceed the speed limit on the stretch between Hawaiian Shores / Beaches and Hawaiian Paradise Park. Officials stress the importance of going the speed limit for the safety of all motorists and to maintain the life of the emergency route.
- DRIVE TIME: For the most part, the video above is a real-time drive-through. However, for the sake of the length of the video, we sped up the footage by four times between 13:31 and 14:15. There is also a cut at the 10 minute mark, removing a stop we made a few streets after the four way stop in Hawaiian Shores / Beaches (and a chat with blogger Damon Tucker, who also drove the road Saturday). Therefore, while the video is a little over 18 minutes long, our drive was closer to 25 minutes. With traffic, this drive can easily take a half an hour from Nanawale to Makuu in Hawaiian Paradise Park.
- SCENERY: The unpaved Railroad Avenue has the look and feel of an emergency access road. Much of the drive is lined by sawhorses and orange cones. While sections of the road traverse Nanawale Forest and other natural stretches, a number abandoned cars, twisted in the vegetation off the road (likely uncovered as the road was cut), are evidence of the hurried nature of the project.
by Big Island Video News8:31 am
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STORY SUMMARY
A real-time drive on the Railroad Avenue, filmed with a GoPro camera, mixed with full remarks by county officials at the blessing ceremony.