Kokua Line
Kokua Line
Kalanianaole repaving
causes a lane shiftQuestion: I've noticed that after they repaved Kalanianaole Highway, the lines dividing the traffic lanes don't line up after the intersection. This is especially by Kalani High School, heading Ewa. Cars have to veer to the right to stay in their lane. If you're not expecting it or not paying attention, it may cause a problem. Was this because they widened the sidewalk? Can something be done?
Answer: The addition of a new bike lane on the right shoulder of Kalanianaole Highway did cause a shift toward the median at the Kalaniiki Street intersection near Kalani High School, confirmed a traffic project engineer for the state Department of Transportation's Traffic Branch.
No one anticipated such a large lane shift during the design process, he said. The problem was detected when the contractor was laying the pavement markings.
The remaining pavement striping was completed with temporary tape until a revised design could be made, the DOT engineer said. That new design was recently completed.
However, in order to have the lines match up before and after the intersection, a change will be necessary.
Because of "current roadway geometric constraints," including the right-hand curbing and median guardrail, the westbound acceleration lane for Kalaniiki Street will be eliminated.
Q: I received my absentee ballot for the general election in the mail. But the secret ballot envelope on the reverse said "primary election only." I called and asked if this would invalidate my general election ballot and was told "no." They said they realized it was misleading and had received other calls. If this were the case, why hasn't this been publicized?
A: City elections officials acknowledge they might have "inadvertently caused a little bit of confusion" among absentee voters by trying to save some paper.
The "primary election only" words on the back of the secret ballot envelope refer only to instructions for voting in Hawaii's single primary system, said Glenn Takahashi, elections administrator for the City and County of Honolulu. They don't mean the envelopes can't be used for the general election.
In fact, Takahashi said, you could use a plain white envelope as the secret ballot envelope.
"We try to make use of whatever printed space is available, so we don't have to insert additional pieces of paper into our mailing packet," Takahashi said. The blank space on the back of the secret ballot envelope was thus utilized to relay information about how to vote in a single primary election.
"In retrospect, we can see that a first-time voter might get confused," Takahashi said. "So we ran our envelopes through the printer again, and X'd out the back portion of the envelope to tell the voters to disregard this section."
Roughly 40,000 absentee ballots will be sent out to Honolulu voters for this general election, Takahashi estimated. About 10,000 voters received the envelopes without the crossed-out instructions. Neighbor island voters were not affected.
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