|
Traffic snarls Determined to beat traffic for yesterday's sold-out University of Hawaii football game against Brigham Young University, Lance and Berny Luning left Kapolei with "a game plan."
force some UH fans
to get inventive
Some folks find that leaving
UH romps over BYU
early for the game doesn't
always mean arriving earlyBy Lisa Asato
lasato@starbulletin.com"We always go against where people go," Berny Luning said. "It's not a good idea to follow the masses because people might be wrong."
Scoring two game tickets just four hours before the 11 a.m. kickoff, the couple didn't leave home until 8:45 a.m. But they arrived and parked in 30 minutes, they said, because they bypassed the "messed-up" Stadium offramp and took back roads to Radford High School, where Lance works and has an "assigned stall."
But not everyone had a plan or an assigned parking space and some spent more than an hour in traffic
"It just depends on which way you go," said Bob Lee, whose commute from the airport took an hour. His friend had more luck driving in from town via Red Hill, even though Lee and his wife, Judy, had left earlier, he said.
Lee, an Ahahui Koa Anuenue member who has been coming to the games since "the old stadium days," suggested officials should have opened the parking lot at 5 or 6 a.m. instead of 7:30 a.m.
That hasn't worked in the past, said Scott Chan, assistant events manager at Aloha Stadium.
"A lot of people say we should try to open up earlier, (but) we found that the earlier we open then the earlier they show up."
Chan said people stayed overnight at the Halawa and North Kam gates. Earlier openings also cost more in manpower and gives more time for tailgating, which is also a concern, he said.
"It's not as easy as people think it is, otherwise we'd have this thing licked a long time ago," he said.
Anticipating heavy traffic, Bob and Carol Graham left Moiliili just before 7 a.m., got to the stadium before the gates opened, and by "20 of 8 we were in this stall," he said. "We had no problem." Compared to last week's two-hour commute to the high school championship game between St. Louis and Kahuku, "this was a breeze," he said.
Season ticket holders Mark and Faith Higashiguchi said they spent more time trying to get into the stadium than they did driving in from Waipahu.
"Getting to Halawa wasn't bad," Mark Higashiguchi said. "Getting in from Halawa exit was bad."
Just before 10 a.m. the Honolulu Police Department announced that the stadium lots were full and encouraged people to use shuttles from Leeward Community College and the Halawa Bus Facility, where at least 300 stalls were still open.
Chan said the stadium gates closed at various times, with the main gate closing to those without passes at 7:50 a.m.
After driving an hour and a half from Manoa, 22-year-old Mike Bernis' spirits were still high. "I was just like 'We're going to get here eventually,'" he said, as he enjoyed a party with friends in the parking lot. "It's all part of morning madness."