Ewa road plans
draw concernSome residents doubt Fort Weaver
Road changes will help
State transportation officials heard residents' concerns and questions last night regarding the first phase of a five-year Fort Weaver Road widening project, which will start next month and eventually give the thoroughfare six lanes.
"The major concern is that we're stuck already," said Ewa Neighborhood Board Chairwoman Tesha Malama.
She added that work on this and other traffic-alleviation projects should have started years ago.
The first $6.3 million phase of the construction project will include work between the Farrington Highway and Laulaunui Street and is expected to be completed in June 2005.
The project will close the Farrington Highway onramp to Fort Weaver Road for 45 days, and is also expected to close lanes in both directions during nonpeak hours.
The second phase of the project between Lauluanui Street and Geiger Road will cost about $20 million and begin in spring 2005. It's expected to be completed by 2007.
About 25 people attended the meeting last night at Asing Park in Ewa Beach, and some had doubts that the project would noticeably improve traffic on Fort Weaver Road.
Ewa Beach resident Tony Becker said he doesn't understand why the widening will take so long.
"I think there's no way traffic is going to be incredible for the next five years," he said.
But state Transportation Director Rod Haraga said drivers would see the difference, once work is complete.
"The traffic flow, I think, will improve," he said. "It's a viable project that's really going to do something."
Some residents also had questions about the planned lowering of Fort Weaver Road's speed limit by 10 mph, from 45 mph to 35 mph, once the project is finished. Haraga said the change is necessary under federal guidelines because with six lanes the road will be considered an urban street rather than a rural one.
"I don't see the need to reduce the speed limit permanently," said one attendee. "Oahu has a habit of artificial low speed limits as it is."
Malama, though, said she has no problem with the lowered speed limit.
"I think the 35 mph change is not going to impact traffic flow, because we can't even go 35 mph during the peak (driving hours)," she said. "I think we need relief; this is one step to relief."
Some 56,719 motorists drive on Fort Weaver Road over an average 24-hour period, said transportation spokesman Scott Ishikawa.
About 2,700 cars are on the road between 7 and 8 a.m. on weekdays, and 2,506 drivers take the road from 3:45 to 4:45 p.m., he said.
Ishikawa told the Star-Bulletin in February that Fort Weaver Road "is one of the worst bottlenecks on the island," citing U.S. Census Bureau figures that show the Ewa Beach and Ewa by Gentry subdivision grew by about 12,000 people from 1990 to 2000.
The Fort Weaver widening will coincide with work on the first phase of the 2.2-mile North-South Road, which is expected to start in December and take two years to completed. Both are aimed at alleviating traffic in the area.