The pristine beauty flanking both sides of Highway 92 is a sight to behold, but after sitting idly, day in and day out, inhaling the fumes of surrounding cars, the sight quickly loses its mystique and the route instead becomes a daily chore for thousands of Coastsiders.
Commuters take heart: The City Council shares your pain and this month members received a revamped schedule of long-planned work that could ease the situation by 2006.
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"We're hoping to get it started next year," Mayor Mike Ferreira said.
City officials hope the project improvements will dramatically change traffic patterns on Main Street and relieve congestion on Highway 92.
An additional lane will be added in each direction from Spanishtown to Main Street, and a right turn lane will be added on the westbound entrance to the city. Main Street will also see an additional northbound lane from Stone Pine Road to Highway 92.
But those familiar with the highway know that little right-of-way space exists on either side of the old country road, so the city is pursuing a purchase of the necessary land through eminent domain - a process that allows government to take property at fair-market value for a wider public good.
The city's Public Works Department is now working with the county to get the procedure started on numerous parcels throughout the project's reach.
Most of the eminent domain on Highway 92 will be taken on the south side of the road, likely meaning the demise of dozens of old trees.
"There will be eminent domain to some degree through that whole stretch," Ferreira said.
"We'll lose almost all of those trees along there and that's an (unfortunate) change for a lot of folks."
The city plans to plant new trees in their place following the project's completion.
Another departure will be the Olympian gas station property at Highway 92 and Main Street, which will be taken for the right-turn lane.
Although the city originally only wanted the section of the property adjacent to the highway, the gas station owner requested the city take the whole property rather than force the business into a smaller space.
On the opposite corner, an L-shaped section of the Shell gas station will be used for the additional eastbound lane on Highway 92 and an additional northbound lane on Main Street.
Sections of numerous properties along the east side of Main Street between Stone Pine Road and Highway 92 will need to be taken through eminent domain as well.
"We want to make the light work more efficiently and get Main Street to work more efficiently," Ferreira said, adding that the council did all that it could to pursue as little property through eminent domain as possible.
"Eminent domain has to happen first," Ferreira said, adding that any change to the project's schedule will be due to that process.
A private firm, Mark Thomas and Company, has been managing the project under a multi-million contract with the city. The company did not return calls this week.
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