WAIALUA, Hawaii (KHON2) — A large container on the side of Kaukonahua Road has raised concerns for North Shore residents on a road that is already dangerous.
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Concerned viewers reached out to KHON2 News through the Report It feature, but there is confusion over who is responsible for the eyesore.
The trailer is about 50 feet long and residents said it has been there at least since Monday, Oct. 2. Motorists told KHON2 that Kaukonahua Road is already a scary drive.
“You have to really watch it because sometimes people go faster than they’re supposed to, but now with the trailer there, it’s impossible to see what’s coming on both sides,” said Waialua resident Pam Kilmer.
Jeanne Bennett lives on the property right behind the container and reached out to KHON2 after she played a game of phone tag.
“The police said it’s the state’s department,” Bennett said, “the state said it’s the city and county’s department, the city and county said they really don’t have the equipment to move it.”
The Honolulu City and County told KHON2, that portion of Kaukonahua Road is not under their jurisdiction — it is actually private — and they are not involved in discussions to remove the container.
There was a critical accident on Kaukonahua Road on Sunday, Sept. 17 and the North Shore Neighborhood Board chair said whoever left the container is just inviting another.
“Because it is a hazard for a number of reasons, not just for blind spots, but it’s become what they call an attractive nuisance now,” North Shore Neighborhood Board chair Kathleen Pahinui said.
Concerned residents pointed out that the container is not just an eyesore and a blind spot hazard — it is also not stable and one good downpour might sweep it right into the road.
“It could get swept, it could tip over,” Pahinui said, “That’s exactly what I thought, too, when I saw it was, it’s leaning.”
Jordan Dekoch said he saw a truck driving the container about 25 miles per hour in the late-evening hours of Sunday, Oct. 1 before it pulled off the road under a huge plume of dust.
Dekoch brought his groceries back home and went back to the scene to check on the people who were driving.
“And then by the time I came back, they were gone. So I, and I was thinking like, this is a big trailer, they’ll come back for it,” Dekoch said, “but it’s been here for a few days now.”
The city said Bennett will have to file an illegal dumping report with the Honolulu Police Department, but she said an HPD officer refused to take the report on Wednesday because the incident is being treated as a traffic accident.
She just wants the container gone.
“It would be really nice if they did it before either I got hurt or my husband died or one of my neighbors died because there’s a number of people that have to use it,” Bennett said.
KHON2 is waiting to hear back from police on how long the container has to be there before it is considered illegal dumping.
