Giddy up

Thursday, February 15, 2007 1:37 PM HST

The first phase realignment of Saddle Road is moving along

By JASON ARMSTRONG
Tribune-Herald staff writer

Motorists seeking safer travel between Hilo and Kona can saddle up because the first phase of a new cross-island route is nearly finished. A realigned 6.5-mile section of Saddle Road should open early this summer, said Ronald Zeitz, a spokesman for the Federal Highway Administration.

“The roadway is being greatly improved, with two lanes 12 feet wide and an additional 8-foot shoulder on each side, which could ostensibly be used by bicyclists,” Zeitz said....Along the road will be emergency-call boxes, plus paved, 7-foot-wide fire lanes and steel fence in certain sections to keep motorists from throwing cigarettes into the region’s protected habitat, he said....

The contractor has finished “lava crunching,” a process of flattening a corridor on both sides of the existing road section, and necessary survey work, Brown said. The second section, which will include a passing lane and is expected to be opened in March 2008 is now being engineered, he said....