Accidents, returning Heavy school traffic and a few accidents turned this morning's commute into a nightmare for many motorists.
students slow traffic
It was the first day for UH and
many public school studentsBy Treena Shapiro
tshapiro@starbulletin.comMore than 40,000 university students returned to school today, which was also the first day that all 183,000 public school students were scheduled to be in class since the schools began opening on a staggered schedule at the end of last month.
Marilyn Kali, state Transportation Department spokeswoman, said the back-to-school traffic was about the same as it has been in previous years.
"Traffic was definitely increased, but there were also fender-benders which made it seem worse," Kali said.
Leeward commuters heading into town on H-1 were slowed by at least three minor accidents, she said.
Kali added that for every minute traffic is slowed down because of an accident or mechanical problem, it takes 10 minutes for traffic to get back to normal.
"Last year we got through the whole first day like this without a single fender-bender," she said.
Police said there were no major accidents this morning. One Honolulu-bound lane of the Pali Highway right before the Kamehameha Highway intersection was closed for three hours to clear away fallen rocks and mud. It reopened at 7:20 a.m.
Police also closed a portion of Kalihi Street in Kapalama for about an hour-and-a-half after a pedestrian accident about 5:30 this morning. The victim, a 62-year-old Kalihi man who was struck by a vehicle on Kalihi Street, was in guarded condition at Queen's Medical Center.
Police had closed Kalihi Street between Hart and Kalani streets to conduct a traffic accident investigation but reopened it by 6:55 a.m.
Kali said that motorists should continue to leave earlier and consider alternative modes of transportation.
"If people don't have enough time, they start following, tailgating, trying to switch lanes ... and we have fender-benders that cause everybody to be late," she said