The road I’m talking about is the Laulau Beach road. It is the most neglected road on Saipan and is an accident waiting for a place to happen. It has been ignored by every administration and every mayor to date. Keeping it safe is not nearly as important as visiting one of our sister cities.
The Laulau road is used by local families to go to the beach, picnic, swim and have a good time. On the weekends local people put their coolers, picnic tables, tents and children in the back of their pickups and drive to the beach.
The road always has huge potholes and puddles. Trees and shrubs are always growing into and over the road blocking the view down the road. Most of the time, the road is only wide enough for one vehicle. There are only a few areas where one vehicle can yield to another. There is one area that overlooks the bay without guard rails in which a vehicle could easily be forced off the road and into the bay. Japanese dive operators speed on this road — they are always in a hurry. When Korean tour operators do their sightseeing tours, they drive like maniacs on this road. I’ve never seen anyone ever pulled over for speeding or reckless driving on this road.
Why do we have to have a deadly accident before we do something? The Laulau road is dangerous. Paving it will make it a speedway and even more dangerous. Do we need eight people to die on the Laulau road before we do something about it like we did with the 1,000-foot curve in Sadog Tasi?
I urge all our candidates for mayor to immediately check out the Laulau road. Do it today and write us a letter giving us your “platform” on what you will do to make this road safe for everyone.
KENNETH L. GOVENDO
Superior Court Judge
