Punchbowl traffic has
new bottleneck

By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Star-Bulletin

A city transportation official and a consultant have acknowledged that makai-bound traffic along Punchbowl Street is worse than expected after adding a mauka-bound lane between King and Beretania streets.

"We didn't anticipate backup of traffic as much as we've seen," Gregory Hee, an engineer with the city Department of Design and Construction, told members of the City Council Transportation Committee.

Wayne Yoshioka of Parsons Brinkerhoff Quade and Douglas echoed Hee's comments.

The objective of the project is to give downtown motorists a straight shot mauka-bound to Vineyard Boulevard's freeway entrances via a left-turn lane from South King onto Punchbowl.

Traffic analysts say afternoon bottlenecks along Alapai and Beretania streets have eased as a result of the project.

But they didn't count on the traffic going makai on Punchbowl, which now has been reduced to four lanes and will eventually go to three.

"There is a significant amount of cars now backing up," said Transportation Chairman Andy Mirikitani.

"It's much more dangerous for people."

Councilman Jon Yoshimura said, "I don't think you've done anything to deal with the cueing on Punchbowl above Beretania."

Deputy Transportation Director Joe Magaldi said one improvement has been made: The crosswalk signal at King and Punchbowl now can be triggered only by a pedestrian pushing the signal button, allowing cars turning left onto King to move through more quickly when no one is crossing.

He said another improvement is coming: Queen's Medical Center, as part of its expansion plans, intends to create a dedicated left-turn lane from Punchbowl onto its site, allowing two lanes to head makai to the Beretania intersection without jam-ups.