Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.

Traffic? Add
some drive time

Plot an alternate route and
start a little earlier, drivers
are advised

By Treena Shapiro
Star-Bulletin

At 10 o'clock last night, all that separated Yong Hins' Pele Street home from resurfacing work on the H-1 freeway was a cement barrier.

The constant rumble as construction workers stripped the existing pavement from the freeway brought 38-year-old Hins and his family out into the yard to survey the situation.

"I have to work early tomorrow," Hins complained. "Monday at 7 a.m. I wake up, but all night long, I can't sleep."

In addition to keeping Hins awake, the closure of the eastbound lanes of the freeway forced thousands of motorists off the usually busy roadway and onto surface streets.

Last night, the first night of the closure, traffic flowed smoothly on alternate routes like King Street and Kapiolani Boulevard. Increased "green time" at traffic lights at major intersections helped. Even on King Street near Honolulu Hale, where the breakdown of the Taste of Honolulu closed two lanes, traffic kept moving.

"Although it's going to take them longer because they're on surface streets, they won't be in bumper-to-bumper traffic," said transportation department spokeswoman Marilyn Kali as she and other officials observed the freeway shutdown and its effects on television monitors at the Honolulu Traffic Management Center.

Evangeline Kaaihue, 33, said she didn't notice any increase in traffic as she drove from Kalihi to Punchbowl Street.

"There were hardly any cars," she said. While Kaaihue said she's noticed traffic delays in the daytime from other state or county roadwork, last night's work didn't make much of a difference.

But other drivers were irked by the inconvenience of having to find alternatives to the freeway. Michael Matsumoto, 49, said his condominium was just a short hop on the freeway from the Pali Safeway to right past the Kinau Street offramp, but he had to take a different route.

"I don't like it," he said. "I've got to go out of my way."

For Matsumoto, the real test would be today, when more people working means more traffic. "I just have to wait and see," he said before passing a final judgment.

Watching the construction work yesterday from the westbound Vineyard Street offramp, Transportation Director Kazu Hayashida said, "We don't expect any real difficulties tomorrow."

The transportation department has been recommending that motorists add an extra 15 minutes to their drive time to allow for increased traffic on the surface streets.

However, while Kalihi resident Evangeline Medeiros said she knew about the freeway closure, until she drove her boyfriend to work downtown tonight, she said, "I didn't think it was going to affect me."

"We had to go around," she said, adding that the detour added 10 minutes to her drive time.

"I guess I just have to find another way to get there," she said. "It's irritating." Hins suggested that night resurfacing project would be better scheduled on Friday and Saturday nights, when people can sleep late the next morning, but those are the only nights when night construction won't occur.

Sunday to Thursday for the next six weeks, eastbound lanes of the H-1 freeway from Puuloa Road though University Avenue are closed from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m., with a break on July 3 and 4 to allow for increased holiday traffic.

Because of the hours, the contractor Hawaiian Bitumulls will be using a low noise cold-planing method to remove the pavement, but while the noise is quieter than the westbound traffic about 300 yards away, being right next to it is a different story.

But if all goes as planned, Hins may be able to sleep soundly soon. Kali said the resurfacing work should progress at approximately 700 yards a night.