Punchbowl
traffic change starts
tomorrow

The stretch between
Beretania and King streets
will go two-way

By Pat Omandam
Star-Bulletin

City officials are hoping things go smoothly when traffic on Punchbowl Street between King and Beretania streets goes two-way starting at 2 p.m. tomorrow.

The traffic pattern change is the first part of a multiphase project to give downtown motorists a more direct route to the H-1 freeway via Punchbowl, said city Transportation Services Director Cheryl Soon.

Soon yesterday said the weekend opening will allow motorists to familiarize themselves with the new pattern. But the true test comes Monday when rush-hour commutes begin.

Mayor Jeremy Harris has said the concept is eventually to have two mauka-bound lanes between Ala Moana and the freeway.

"Some people will have the weekend to get used to it," Soon said.

"The greater number of people, of course, are commuters during the week, and the first time they'll experience it will be Monday morning."

Punchbowl Street has had four lanes heading one way in the makai direction since the 1970s, Soon said. With the change, motorists will be able to travel mauka in one lane between King and Beretania. Drivers traveling on King Street in front of Iolani Palace will be able to make a left turn onto Punchbowl.

Those who drive mauka on Punchbowl will not be allowed to turn left onto Beretania Street and instead must drive through the intersection.

Punchbowl after the Beretania intersection already is a two-way street, going between Queen's Hospital and the Department of Education building.

Soon said motorists traveling Ewa on Beretania who want to turn left onto Punchbowl can still do so, but will no longer have a "free" lane allowing them to turn whenever it was safe to do so.

Instead, she said, they will have to wait until the traffic signal allows them to make the turn.

And those traveling makai on Punchbowl between Beretania and King streets will have two left-turn lanes onto King Street and two lanes that go straight across King Street.

Meanwhile, the city has installed all the hardware needed for the changes, such as restriping affected crosswalks and adding a pedestrian traffic signal at the midpoint crosswalk between the state Capitol and City Hall.

Also, the city has created new pedestrian traffic islands at the intersections of Beretania and Punchbowl, and at Punchbowl and King, so people have a safe place to wait for traffic signals to change.

"In both instances, we've created a safety island," Soon said. "For example, at the corner of Mabel Smyth Auditorium, you'll notice there's a split island where pedestrians can safely wait in order to take another leg of their crossing."

Soon said police will be on hand tomorrow and Monday to help motorists with the traffic changes.

Additionally, variable message signs will flash warnings to pedestrians who trek to City Hall to visit the Honolulu City Lights display.

Later phases of the project involve making Punchbowl Street two-way between King Street and Ala Moana. Also, the city will spend up to $3.5 million to expand Punchbowl between Vineyard Boulevard and the H-1 underpass entrance from one to two lanes.