The price of paradise can be the occasional traffic jam. Our infrastructure is taking a little bit of time to catch up with the island’s growing number of residents and off-island visitors. Paia and the rest of the North Shore is in the planning stages of creating a bypass that would circumvent the North Shore’s charming old plantation town. This is more of a long term process, but there is an interim solution that is getting closer to coming to fruition. Last year a second lane was created starting shortly after Baldwin Beach Park that ran to right before the public parking area on the edge of Paia. Over the last couple of weeks, construction has started on a one lane road that will run along the edge of the cane fields and dump out somewhere above Paia. While there is no definitive timeframe for the completion of the project, it is an encouraging sign that a solution is on the way. I will keep you posted as we hear more about completion dates.

Pete Jalbert