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Kokua Line June Watanabe |
Kakaako gets realignment
for rapid transitQuestion: On Ilalo Street, by the new University of Hawaii Medical Center in Kakaako, they just finished putting in a new divided road there, but less than six months later, they're digging it up. How come?
Answer: The city began work on May 24 to build transit stops on Ilalo and Auahi streets as part of the "Initial Operating Segment" -- Iwilei to Waikiki -- of its Bus Rapid Transit project.
The work is expected to be completed in December.
When asked about what was happening on Ilalo Street, a city spokeswoman said the Bus Rapid Transit alignment through Kakaako "had been discussed on many occasions" and the public informed through project newsletters, City Council hearings, neighborhood board meetings, community group meetings and project outreach meetings.
There also was a supplemental environmental impact statement specifically dealing with the alignment, as well as a paid newspaper announcement to motorists, she said.
However, the announcement was not placed in the Star-Bulletin.
Traffic on Ilalo Street, between Cooke and Coral streets, will be detoured and reduced to one lane in each direction during the project. Ewa-bound traffic on Auahi will be reduced to one lane between Kamakee Street and Ward Avenue, while vehicles headed Diamond Head will be reduced to one lane between Kamakee and Queen Street.
If you have any complaints or concerns about the work, call 864-2066, a 24-hour emergency hot line.
Mahalo
To all those who responded to a recent traumatic event, made more acute by the presence of my 3-year-old granddaughter. We were preparing to attend the University of Hawaii-Fresno baseball game on May 14 when a severe pain began in my stomach area. I decided to return home. I made it back to the parking structure, perspiring uncontrollably. I asked security personnel for medical assistance. Immediately, an ambulance was called and took me and my granddaughter to Straub Clinic and Hospital, where I was treated, pronounced healthy and released. The professionalism, immediate response, caring for my granddaughter, and patience displayed by the UH security personnel, Emergency Medical Services team and all the nurses, technicians and doctors at Straub unquestionably saved me from further pain. -- Lawrence O. Muraoka
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