Honolulu rush-hour
traffic lightened up
in late 1990s

Commuters spent an average
of 24 hours stuck in congestion
during 2000, a new study says

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By Tim Ruel
truel@starbulletin.com

Sick of traffic? Relax. A new study says that urban Honolulu's rush-hour traffic improved more in the late 1990s than in 74 other major cities.

Drivers in Honolulu, on average, spent 5 minutes and 45 seconds stuck in rush-hour traffic each working day in 2000. Out of the full year, that amounts to one full 24-hour day spent sitting on the road, but that's not bad, considering the average driver in Los Angeles spent 136 hours in rush-hour traffic.

Honolulu's rush-hour gridlock has improved from 1994, when the wait for drivers was nearly 8 minutes per working day, or a total of 33 hours for the year. In most other cities, between 1994 and 2000, drivers spent increased time in traffic, not less, according to the annual roadway congestion survey by the Texas Transportation Institute, part of Texas A&M University.

The average driver in all 75 U.S. cities surveyed spent 15 minutes in working-day traffic in 2000, or 62 hours during the year. In 1994, the national average was 11 minutes, or a total of 45 hours a year.

The ZipLane, opened on H-1 in August 1998, helped Honolulu traffic, said Glenn Yasui, state highways administrator. Also, the H-3 opened December 1997, and a four-year widening of Kalanianaole Highway in East Honolulu was completed in January 1995.

To keep things in perspective, in 1982, the rush-hour wait in urban Honolulu was just 2 minutes and 24 seconds daily, or 10 hours for the year, the study said.

The survey, released yesterday, defines rush-hour as the time when the road systems are "congested." Honolulu's average daily rush-hour length was 6 hours and 36 minutes in 2000, compared with 1994's rush-hour period of 6 hours and 48 minutes. Translation: Honolulu's rush hour got 12 minutes shorter.

"Traffic congestion creates a combination of frustrated people, a lack of economic productivity and a loss of movement," said researcher Tim Lomax, who co-authored the study with David Schrank.

"It's not just a case of building more highways, it's a case of operating what we have better," Lomax said. More people need to avoid rush-hour traffic, for example.

The study recommends that cities use better techniques for managing construction and maintenance programs.

Honolulu's main problem: We have lots of people living in a small space. Nearly 5,000 people live in every square mile in urban Honolulu, the study said. Only Los Angeles had higher density, with 5,600 people per square mile.

And remember, that wait in traffic is costing you. In 2000, the average Honolulu driver burned 41 gallons of gasoline sitting in rush-hour traffic, a 23 percent decrease from 53 gallons wasted in 1994, the study said.