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UH-ManoaQuestion: I live on Pamoa Road in Manoa, a road that is quite narrow and busy with school traffic for both the University of Hawaii and a private high school. Many UH students park their cars on this road throughout the year. The traffic jam this creates while cars maneuver between the parked cars in order to let oncoming vehicles pass is extremely frustrating, not to mention dangerous. I have witnessed many accidents as well as arguments from frustrated motorists who try to squeeze through the mess. I have also witnessed emergency vehicles lose precious minutes trying to get through. A fire truck took 10 minutes to get to the end of the road which would normally take less than 30 seconds. How can we let this situation continue? Does the university have a parking shortage?
Answer: As long as the cars are parked legally, any motorist has a right to park along any public street.
If they are parked illegally, you should call police at 911.
The parking congestion in Manoa neighborhoods has generated complaints among residents for years, since the UH is mainly a commuter campus with a well-publicized shortage of on-campus student parking.
Despite many proposals to ease the on-street congestion over the years, including an ill-fated one to create "exclusionary" zones where only residents would be allowed to park in a neighborhood, the problem persists.
If you feel the parking situation is dangerous, the city does have a procedure by which you can try to impose a parking restriction. It entails surveying your neighbors, getting at least 90 percent of those affected to agree to a change. You would then present the results to the Department of Transportation Services via your neighborhood board. However, even if the board supports you, officials say that does not guarantee the city will implement the change.
Regarding passage by emergency vehicles, officials with both the Honolulu Fire Department and city Emergency Medical Services Division checked out Pamoa Road and found no problem.
They noted that vehicles are only allowed to park on one side of the street and that there is a no-parking restriction between 7:30-8:30 a.m. and 2:30-3:30 p.m. on school days.
That being the case, there would be no problem for an ambulance to pass through, said Donnie Gates, EMS's assistant chief of operations.
Fire Capt. Richard Soo personally assessed the situation along Pamoa Road, while a fire truck from the Manoa Fire Station made a test run.
It took the truck, going 12 mph in a non-emergency run, 55 seconds to drive the length of Pamoa Road going in, and 45 seconds going out, Soo said. Also, the fire station's logs showed that of the four times a truck responded to the Pamoa Road area this year, it took it 2 minutes (twice) to 4 minutes (twice) to get there from the station on East Manoa Road.
Soo said that any portion of a minute is counted as a full minute, so the actual times could have been shorter. The response times were more than acceptable since "we like to respond to any emergency between 4 to 5 minutes within a coverage zone," he said.
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Got a question or complaint?
Call 529-4773, fax 529-4750, or write to Kokua Line,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu 96813. As many as possible will be answered.
E-mail to kokualine@starbulletin.com