Gov. David Ige said he will call on the Hawaii National Guard and assemble a planning team in preparation for lava from the Mauna Loa eruption advancing on and potentially crossing Daniel K. Inouye Highway.

What You Need To Know

  • National Guard personnel would initially be used to support planning for alternative routes or establishing bypass routes, if necessary, for Daniel K. Inouye Highway

  • Plans will also include identifying measures to minimize delays in transporting supplies needed for infrastructure projects should the highway be overrun

  • The governor also said that his administration will work with Hawaii County Civil Defense to establish safe viewing locations for residents and visitors to help prevent people from turning off the highway or taking other unnecessary risks to view the spectacle

“DKI Highway has become even more heavily utilized and Big Island residents really count on it,” Inouye said. “It really does significantly reduce travel time between east and west so we will be looking at all options. We know that we cannot turn the lava flow as it comes through the mountain but we certainly will leave no stone unturned to identify options to ensure that we don’t lose access to DKI Highway for any real period of time.”

National Guard personnel would initially be used to support planning for alternative routes or establishing bypass routes, if necessary.

“I have had discussions with Major General (Kenneth) Hara to anticipate the challenges that we see as a flow progresses and really have the Guard be prepared to help the Hawaii County in any specific way that they need,” Ige said.

“We don’t anticipate (a situation like) the 2018 flow, which really overran highways and cut off communities,” he said. “We don’t see a whole lot of that, at least at this stage of the eruption, but we always are looking at planning, should mandatory evacuations occur, what kind of assistance Hawaii County would need should that happen. I think all of those activities will commence and that’s why I issued the emergency proclamation—so that we could begin that discussion and planning so that we can anticipate rather than react.”

Ige said plans would also include identifying measures to minimize delays in transporting supplies needed for infrastructure projects should the highway be overrun.

The governor also said that his administration will work with Hawaii County Civil Defense to establish safe viewing locations for residents and visitors to help prevent people from turning off the highway or taking other unnecessary risks to view the spectacle.

Michael Tsai covers local and state politics for Spectrum News Hawaii. Email him at michael.tsai@charter.com.