[ OUR OPINION ]
Jammed roads
dispute report’s finding
of reduced traffic
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Neither is their frustration lightened by the study's data showing commuters in California have had to deal with driving conditions that are much worse.
The annual analysis by the Texas Transportation Institute shows that on average the nation's drivers wasted 46 hours a year in 2002 trying to get around. Los Angeles area motorists were the most to suffer, spending 93 hours a year on congested highways.
At 18 hours, the average Oahu motorist spent less time stuck in traffic than in 1992, when the figure stood at 30 hours. Still, those caught in the daily rush-hour jams remain skeptical. "It's only getting worse," said Tesha Malama, a member of the Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization who lives in Ewa where just getting to the freeway can consume 30 minutes.
Leeward drivers like Malama are as unconvinced as University of Hawaii civil engineering professor Panos Prevedouros. He contends the findings are suspect because it focuses on lane count and traffic volume, so if the first increases and the latter decreases, the analysis calculates traffic movement has gotten better.
In finding fault with the report last year, Prevedouros also questioned the validity of data collected, especially if the information was gathered in areas where road improvements have been made and not in districts like Ewa, Kapolei and Mililani that have seen population increases.
In addition, the professor noted, 2002's tourism numbers were low and real estate was stagnant, possible factors not reflected on roads at present.
The institute says solutions lie in big improvements like road building and public transportation projects, but those are largely dependent on federal highway funds that are distributed to every state even when there is no need.
Other recommendations include making the best use of roadways and better management of traffic flow, like the zipper lanes on the H-1 freeway, which has supplied some rush hour relief. State transportation department has been experimenting with contraflow lanes on Nimitz highway with some success.
A more recent trial on the H-1's Lunalilo on-ramp has also reduced congestion by directing drivers to Vineyard Boulevard and the Punchbowl on-ramp. The change has lessened a slowdown produced when cars criss-cross lanes to enter and exit the freeway, which previously caused traffic to back up as far as Kaimuki. The small adjustment works so well it should become permanent.
The institute also suggests that reducing suburban sprawl, which requires residents to drive to and from work, and directing housing and commercial expansions to already developed areas will cut traffic and the need for costly road projects. The city would do well to consider such long-term solutions.
