Complaints stir change
in shape of H-1 rails

By Nelson Daranciang
Star-Bulletin

The state Department of Transportation is seeing things more clearly after motorists complained about new overpass guardrails that obscure the view of the H-1 freeway.

The state said it will change the design of future guardrails in response to those complaints.

The department recently completed installing 42-inch concrete barriers on the Ward Avenue, McCully Street, Keeaumoku Street, and Old Waialae Road overpasses as part of a $23.4 million H-1 resurfacing and safety improvement project. But motorists complained the guardrails were ugly and blocked the view of the freeway below.

"You cannot decide whether or not to take the freeway because you cannot see how heavy the traffic is," said Gordon Lau, who travels on the Ward Avenue overpass every day on his way to work.

"If the traffic on the freeway is congested, you don't realize that until you've already entered the onramp, adding to the congestion," Lau said.

From now on, new guardrails on H-1 overpasses will be solid concrete for only the lower 32 inches. The upper 10 inches will be railings that allow motorists to see through them, said Paul Santo, state Department of Transportation bridge design engineer. "Sometimes you don't appreciate a project's visual impact until it's constructed," he said.

Department spokeswoman Marilyn Kali said the barriers were constructed for pedestrian safety and to comply with the latest federal standards. But the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials guidelines required only the lower 32 inches of the 42-inch barriers to be solid concrete.

"We decided to make them solid all the way up, anyway," Kali said.