Kokua Line
By June Watanabe
Tuesday, December 8, 1998
Kokua Line
When there was a water-main break on the afternoon of Nov. 5 on Farrington Highway, near Nanakuli Avenue, why did the Board of Water Supply take so long in getting a contra-flow lane open to relieve the Nanakuli-bound traffic? During afternoon rush hour, there was a major traffic jam because there was only one Makaha-bound lane open, but two lanes open going to town. Water main break
was hard for
cops to manageThe Board of Water Supply said that decision was made by police.
"Generally speaking, for most major main breaks, decisions on traffic control are made by the police officer on duty," said BWS spokeswoman Denise DeCosta.
"We don't have any say," she said. "So whenever we have HPD on the premises of a water main break, they decide when to contra-flow and what the traffic control should be. They feel it's not our kuleana."
Apparently, the Makaha-bound contra-flow lane was not started until 6:30 or 7 p.m., DeCosta said.
A contra-flow lane probably should have been set up earlier, acknowledged HPD Capt. Mike Hama of the Traffic Division.
Officers who were out there "are taking the responsibility for not clearing up the traffic faster," he said. But he also said there were mitigating factors.
The water main broke on Farrington Highway, 320 feet east of Nanakuli Avenue. When police arrived, traffic was already backed up on Farrington past Kahe Point, Hama said.
"So they had several hours of backup already before they were able to set up anything."
On top of that, there were not enough cones to set up a contra-flow lane right away. While officers should have had some cones, the BWS "also had some responsibility to have some things out there, because they do the work on the roadway," Hama said.
The needed cones were not available until after 5 p.m.
"Because both sides were short of cones, they did the best they could. They also freely ran the traffic in that one lane."
Early on, officers decided they wanted to move the westbound traffic more than the eastbound. Although only one lane was open, they were running about 30 cars a minute, Hama said. That's not great, but "at least you're moving the traffic."
However, after 3 p.m., "drivers became very impatient," Hama said. Many of them caused further tie-ups by trying to get around the snarl, turning on to Pohakunui Avenue, he said.
Compounding all that, "pedestrian traffic was unusually high," as people came by to gawk at the main break, he said.
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JCI is a nonprofit group that provides scholarships to Hawaii residents. As part of a fund-raiser last year, it sold merchandise with a logo of a hibiscus with a rainbow behind it.
If your group is interested, send a letter requesting the items desired, number wanted and what you plan to do with them. Include a copy of your IRS determination letter. Send to JCI World Congress Hawaii Inc., P.O. Box 26303, Honolulu, HI 96825. Write to that address also for more information.
To the two service gentlemen who helped when my car was on fire 8 p.m. Oct. 22 on the H-1 freeway. One warned me the car was on fire; the other extinguished it. They showed the aloha spirit. Mahalo also to the police and fire departments for coming so quickly. -- Steve Lee Mahalo
Need help with problems? Call Kokua Line at 525-8686,
fax 525-6711, or write to P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu 96802.
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