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New freeway designation
demystified

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The reason Moanalua Freeway, officially designated Interstate Route H-201 15 years ago, only recently had signs noting it as such is because the state Department of Transportation was replacing its old signs.

In the July 27 "Kokua Line," someone wanted to know why the new signs say "H-201" rather than "State Hwy 78."

We noted that the Federal Highway Administration added the stretch of Moanalua Freeway between downtown Honolulu (west of Exit 19) and Exit 13, near Aloha Stadium, to the federal Interstate System on Nov. 1, 1989. The rest of Moanalua remains officially State Route 78.

We asked the Transportation Department why the signs were changed after all these years and couldn't get an answer before going on vacation. We can clear up the mystery now:

"This is the first time in a long time that we are replacing the Moanalua Freeway signs, so we are required to use the new H-201 designation, not Route 78," says transportation spokesman Scott Ishikawa.

He said the state initially proposed using "H-1A," but that wasn't accepted because the Interstate System does not include routes with "alphas," he said.

Meanwhile, "We did not push for H-201 signing all this time since we felt motorists would be confused with H-2, which is not connected to H-201," he said.

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Question: Can a landlord give 48-hour notice to come into your apartment, whether you're there or not, to do an inspection and then not show up? My husband took the day off to be there, but no one came. Also, whom can I call for concerning the management of our apartment complex? We have a lot of issues.

Answer: Under "Access," Section 53(b) of the Landlord-Tenant Code, it says: "Except in an emergency, the landlord must give the tenant at least two days' notice and, with the tenant's approval, may enter the tenant's unit only during reasonable hours. The landlord shall not abuse this right of access nor use it to harass the tenant."

The tenant's responsibility, meanwhile, is to "allow the landlord reasonable entry into the unit to inspect, make repairs, and show the dwelling to prospective purchasers and tenants."

If you are living in a public housing project, call the Housing and Community Development Corporation of Hawaii at 587-0599 to voice your complaints.

Otherwise, call the state Office of Consumer Protection's Residential Landlord-Tenant Line, 586-2634, 8 a.m. to noon, Monday-Friday; go online at www.hawaii.gov/dcca/ocp/landlord.html; or call 587-1234 to hear recorded messages on landlord-tenant issues.

Mahalo

To the person who found my black purse on Wednesday, July 21, at the Spark Matsunaga Veterans Medical Center. I absentmindedly had left it hanging on a hook in a restroom. This person gave it to a staff member, who turned it in to the security office. I was able to retrieve it immediately. I am so grateful we still have wonderful people who would responsibly turn in such possessions to the proper authorities. -- J. Teraoka

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