Kokua Line
Kokua Line
Question: Is there a requirement to provide shoulders on the freeway? If not, it would be worth looking into. Otherwise, when cars break down on the freeway, what are they supposed to do -- totally block a lane of traffic? All this came to mind after I was nearly involved in an accident. I was driving home one night, from Honolulu toward Kapolei, just before Exit 8A, when all the cars ahead started rapidly braking. A car was stopped in the middle of the fast lane, pretty much blocking that lane. We were all lucky to get out of that situation alive. I wondered why that car didn't pull off to the side, when I noticed there was only 1 to 2 feet of shoulder space. The Zipper Lane occupied most of the shoulder. H-1’s narrow
shoulders allowableAnswer: The Federal Highway Administration normally requires a "paved shoulder width" of 6 feet on the left and 10 feet on the right for freeways of four to six lanes, said Martin Okabe, district engineer for the state Department of Transportation.
With eight lanes or more, the requirement is for 10 feet on both sides of traffic, he said.
So why is it so narrow along the stretch of freeway you describe?
Because the FHA approved a 2-foot minimum median shoulder on the H-1 and H-2 as an interim exemption to accommodate the Zipper and high-occupancy vehicle lanes.
"They're letting us do that because of the traffic" needs, Okabe said. But the Department of Transportation's highway planning office is responsible for coming up with a plan to upgrade that section to federal standards.
Q: I've noticed with the last few parades that they make the bands and marchers stop making noise when they get to Kalakaua and Kapahulu avenues. I'm guessing this is to keep them quiet by the zoo -- the same zoo that has concerts every Wednesday night with bands that play so loud that I can hear them from my apartment a block away.
A: Differences in noise, according to Honolulu Zoo director Ken Redmond. Specifically, the kind of noise that bothers elephants.
The zoo, for many years, has asked that bands stop playing if they go onto Monsarrat Avenue, which is near the elephant compound.
Drums, especially bass drums, set "the elephants off," Redmond said. "They have a sensitivity to a sound frequency lower than we can hear and it seems to bother them greatly when they hear bass drums," he said.
There is no problem if the bands continue down Kalakaua. "But going right by the elephant area on Monsarrat -- that's the only problem we have with the parades," Redmond said.
As for concerts at the zoo, "That's not bass drums and that sort of thing," so that's why the animals aren't bothered, he said.
Mahalo
To an anonymous gentleman. I got distracted and put my best pair of glasses on the roof of my car as I left work June 16. I got on the freeway, got off two stops later and was at a stoplight, when a gray-haired man with a mustache knocks on my window. He says my glasses slid off my car and tells me where. I went back and found my glasses! -- John Cater
Auwe
To whoever took a dozen boxes and three suitcases labeled and left out on Haleola Street for Cerebral Palsy on July 8. By 6:30 the next morning, they were all gone. Shame on you! -- Upset resident
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