Q: There supposedly were 165 police officers at the Michael Jackson concert on Saturday, but where were they when they were needed at 3:45 p.m. at the Halawa Heights intersection when people waiting to get into the stadium just parked their cars and blocked the lane? They refused to move! People coming down from Halawa Heights couldn't get to the freeway. A bus driver finally had to get out of his bus to argue with them. People were yelling at each other. On Friday night, it was another mess. People driving home over Red Hill were using the right shoulder to bypass other cars. It was ridiculous. This has happened in the past with big football games, but this was the worst. Where were the police? Opening gates earlier cut stadium traffic jam
Unfortunately, you and other motorists were caught in THE major traffic problem area on Saturday, said police Maj. Boisse Correa.
As soon as police became aware of the Halawa Heights jam, they persuaded Aloha Stadium officials to open the gates earlier than the 4:30 p.m. posted time, he said.
Once that decision was made, he said, it took 10 to 15 minutes to get the traffic flowing.
"That was the only area giving us trouble," Correa said, noting that motorists approaching the stadium from Salt Lake Boulevard or Kamehameha Highway moved smoothly.
Asked if police could be posted in the Halawa Heights area in the future for big events, Correa said, "It's not that kind of situation that you can predict." The other problem is some people feel they have a right to stay put once parked in line, causing tempers to flare and altercations to occur, he said.
"It becomes a real hassle (but) it's something we have to look at in the future," he acknowledged. "We're sorry for all the inconvenience and we are concerned."
On Friday, the major traffic headache involved motorists not budging from the slow lane heading Ewa, approaching the stadium, he said.
"All they had to do was go down the second lane to Salt Lake Boulevard, take a right and they would have been in the stadium," Correa said. "But they would not move."
One possible way to handle that situation in the future is to put up a "billboard, to show visually" what options motorists headed for the stadium have, he said.
Correa said he knows stadium-area residents like you may have suffered a major inconvenience because of the Jackson concerts, but "we thought we would have more problems with traffic than we really did."
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