New pics added to photo gallery. Thanks to the hard work of the Dalton brothers, the notorious river at 39th and Pohaku will not be washing the road out any time soon. Although the water level during heavy rains still makes the intersection impassible for small cars, the road itself will still be intact once the rains subside. In the past, so much material was lost that the intersection remained impassible until our crew could go out and fix the road. Check out the photo gallery for pics.

You might be wondering why the intersection was not built above the flood zone. Two reasons: 1. Enormous cost to build a bridge or culvert below the roadway. Diverting the flow of this amount of water is impossible with our budget. 2: Building the intersection too high without culverts would erode the footings of the slab which would eventually crack, collapse and make the road not just impassible but dangerous as well.

The intersection was engineered so that water could flow across the surface without eroding the edges thus weakening the foundation. This design is the most cost-effective. Although it should have cost a lot more, the Daltons gave a lot of their own time and expense to get the intersection done and it should last for many years. Now we just have to worry about the entire public using it as an access road to other areas of Keaau.

Signs are posted at the intersection warning drivers that the intersection does flood and a depth gauge is up to alert drivers to the depth of the water as well. Always use caution if and when you choose to cross any roadway covered with water. If in doubt, turn around.

Also, the board is very aware of the Great Lakes on 40th. We attempted to clear debris and mud from the sides of the lakes but the ENTIRE area is low-lying and is a natural collection point for run-off. It will take an enormous amount of material to fill in so please, if you have not paid your MRMA, our neighbors on 40th and everyone else that uses the road could really use our help.