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Kokua Line
June Watanabe
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Signs altered to send visitors to memorial
Question: Why were the Pearl Harbor signs removed and replaced by "naval station" on the H-1 freeway? Both large green signs now say "Hickam AFB & Naval Station" and no longer "Hickam AFB and Pearl Harbor."
Answer: The changes were part of a collaborative effort to give clearer directions to the Arizona Memorial and other historic sites.
Nineteen signs along the H-1 Airport Viaduct and Kamehameha Highway were altered or installed last year, said Scott Ishikawa, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation.
Changes to 13 overhead signs were completed Dec. 6, in time to help commemorate the 65th anniversary of the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor.
"Since we were just placing an overlay on the wording and not replacing the entire H-1 overhead signs, the costs came in at just under $25,000," Ishikawa said.
Additionally, six brown destination signs, consistent with National Park Service signs, were installed along Kamehameha Highway, he said.
One of the biggest complaints among visitors to the Arizona Memorial was that they took the H-1 "Pearl Harbor" exit, assuming it was a way to get to the memorial, Ishikawa said.
Instead, he said, they ended up at the front gate of the Pearl Harbor naval base.
The confused visitors then had to take a detour through military housing to get back onto Kamehameha Highway to head toward the Arizona.
Ishikawa said representatives of the Pearl Harbor Historic Sites (which include the Arizona Memorial, USS Bowfin Submarine Museum and Park, Battleship Missouri Memorial and Pacific Aviation Museum), the U.S. Navy, state Reps. K. Mark Takai and Lynn Finnegan, state Sen. Norman Sakamoto and the DOT "teamed up to provide more clearer signage to differentiate between the Pearl Harbor naval base and the historic sites, such as the Arizona Memorial."
Q: I have a whole bunch of telephone directories. Where can I take them?
A: Hawaiian Telcom usually sponsors a recycling program in the fall, in which schools can win cash prizes by collecting the directories.
If you can't wait until then, deposit the books at any one of the hundreds of community recycling bins located at schools and shopping centers on Oahu.
You are asked not to bundle the books or place them in plastic bags. Instead, just deposit them loosely in the paper section.
Call the city's recycling office at 692-5410 to find the location nearest you or check envhonolulu.org/solid_waste/ community_recycling_centers. html.
Participating schools earn money from what is recycled.
Auwe
To pedestrians who don't obey traffic signals. I see pedestrians who will start crossing even when the "DON'T WALK" sign is flashing. People are continually crossing against the light, so that motorists trying to make a right turn don't have a chance to turn. -- No Name
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.
See also: Useful phone numbers