TRAFFIC JAM IN HALEIWA

On April, 19 Kimani and I took a day trip up to north shore.  While venturing up to Haleiwa for the day, a small town on the north shore of Oahu, I came upon a couple discoveries such as some mural art by Ron Artis, who was an artist and musician that lived in Haleiwa. Also, there was a rally of lifted trucks and lowriders with the Hawaiian state flag trailing in the wind on the back of the trucks.  All of the trucks were parked along side Kamehameha Highway for a long period of time causing traffic to move very slow for several miles.  Moments down the road we pulled over at a breakfast spot in Haleiwa.  As we sat on the deck and ate our food we watched as all the trucks drove by in a line with the flag in the wind. Some of the flags were flipped upside down, representing a sign of distress and a protest towards the American government.  Some locals in the area are not really for Hawaii being part of the United States, and this was just one way of showing it.

I’m not sure exactly what the three hundred plus sovereignty drivers were rallying for, but they sure did put a halt to the traffic.  It was bumper to bumper on the drive up to Haleiwa, mainly due to the large trucks.  It had come to my attention that the government was considering turning the one lane highway into a double lane highway. After talking to some of the locals, I learned that this is one of the ways that the sovereignty group protests.  This was one of the ways the activists in this particular area acted.  After furthering my conversation with the locals I later found out that the kamehameha highway would have a huge negative impact on both the environment and the small town of Haleiwa.

I never got to talk to anybody in the trucks but the locals I talked to told me because the highway is directly next to the Dole pineapple plantation it has a better chance of happening.  One of the major reasons for this is because the Dole plantation has such a large impact on the economy on the island.  The plantation is one of the major tourist attractions on the island, bringing in over a million visitors a year which is a major boost to the surrounding economy. The reason the Dole plantation is a negative in this situation is that because whatever is more beneficial to the economy will probably take place in this region.  Therefore Dole will be the reason that the locals will lose an important part of the town and a lot of their surrounding environment.

Due to the tourist increase at turtle bay, a lot of the sea turtles that come in annually to lay their eggs have started to migrate down to the little town of Haleiwa.  if the construction of the highway started to take place the whole natural cycle of the sea turtle could change dramatically if not end in that certain area which is so close to the road.  One of the reasons i chose to come to this particular region was from talking to other visitors and locals about this amazing experience, therefore by the highway being constructed in this area it will cause a negative impact on tourism for someone such as myself and future tourists coming to the region that can support if not boost the economy.

At the end of the day I was given a lot to think about.  Are Hawaii’s economic issues more important?  Is a little less traffic in a day worth the forced migration of a herd of beautiful sea turtles? At one point while in Haleiwa i had the opportunity to swim with the turtles and to hear nothing but the sounds of the awesome town and nature surrounding it,  Certain things that really stood out were the sounds of the waves crashing all along the shore, the birds sitting in the store fronts, and sound of some street musicians in a near by ally.

Having experienced just a small piece of what the locals are surrounded with everyday, I can understand why they would protest against the highway. Although this conflict is so important to the locals, it appears to be an issue they are fighting alone because there is little to no coverage on the topic.