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Kokua Line June Watanabe |
Diamond Head tunnel
can get a bit crampedQuestion: Trolleys that shuttle tourists to various sites also go into Diamond Head Crater. Unfortunately, if you are unlucky to enter the tunnel while a trolley is attempting to leave, you will unpleasantly find out they cannot fit in one lane, and you will be forced to reverse, along with whoever is behind you. Entering the long tunnel, you cannot always see a trolley at the other end, as the headlights obscure the vehicle's silhouette. Can't the trolleys have a flag person at the opposite end of the tunnel to hold traffic back while they pass? If this is not possible, maybe trolley access to the crater's interior should be halted.
Answer: Trolleys are but one of dozens of oversize vehicles that enter and exit the crater daily.
There are also minibuses, full-size buses, school buses, delivery and service trucks, and military vehicles, according to Yara Lamadrid-Rose, coordinator of Diamond Head State Park, which is under the state Department of Land & Natural Resources' State Parks Division.
Most oversize vehicles have to use both lanes when going through the tunnel (known as the Kahala tunnel), which is not high enough nor wide enough to accommodate them otherwise.
From her observations and experiences, when an oversize vehicle approaches the tunnel, it usually waits until there is no oncoming traffic, then enters with flashing lights, driving down the center line.
While there are times two vehicles may meet inside the tunnel, forcing one to reverse out, it is not a major problem, Lamadrid-Rose said. She said motorists generally are able to see if another vehicle is already in the tunnel before entering and will wait until that vehicle passes.
"This system has been functional for at least the past five years," Lamadrid-Rose said, "with no major problems."
She doesn't believe a flagman is necessary, especially because one "would have to be required for all oversize vehicles entering/exiting through the tunnel, not just the trolley." Overall, more buses and minibuses enter and exit the tunnel daily than trolleys, she said.
She also said there's no reason to ban any oversize vehicle from the crater.
"That would be unenforceable, given limited staffing," Lamadrid-Rose said, adding that the State Parks Division has no jurisdiction over Hawaii Civil Defense and Hawaii Army National Guard personnel, who have facilities within the crater.
When asked about posting a sign to warn motorists of the narrowness of the tunnel, she said the problem is having too many signs, noting posted speed and fee signs.
However, she said she will explore the possibility of posting an additional sign to warn motorists that traffic in the tunnel at times can be only one-way.
Although there is only one public entry/exit into the crater, the Diamond Head State Monument Master Plan Update calls for one-way traffic through the park. The long-term proposal is to use the closed-to-the-public Kapahulu tunnel as the entry and the Kahala tunnel as an exit.
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