DOT assesses Vineyard
jams after offramp

Question: Ever since the state Department of Transportation started the Lunalilo Street onramp closure experiment, it has exacerbated an already difficult situation at Vineyard Boulevard and Miller Street.

Many cars attempting to merge onto Vineyard from Miller (heading west) cross over the solid line and attempt to cross three lanes of traffic to get into the far left lane to make a U-turn at Punchbowl Street. Many of these cars have Queen's Medical Center parking stickers, so I assume they are trying to make the U-turn to enter the hospital parking structure because southbound lanes on the Punchbowl offramp cannot turn left at Vineyard.

These cars trying to cross so many lanes during rush hour are creating a dangerous situation, especially now that the traffic on Vineyard is many times what it used to be just a few weeks ago. Many of these cars are heading across Vineyard almost perpendicular to the traffic lanes, often blocking traffic! Can the DOT install those pipes, similar to what they use to shut down the Lunalilo onramp, along the solid double line at Miller and Vineyard? This might discourage people from attempting this dangerous maneuver.

Answer: At this point, the Transportation Department says no to your suggestion.

Instead, spokesman Scott Ishikawa said, the department will ask police to keep an eye out for any illegal lane crossings in the area.

After making an on-site assessment, the Department of Transportation decided that installing "delineators" at Vineyard and Miller would impact traffic already affected by the Lunalilo onramp project, he said.

(The demonstration project, which began Aug. 9, prevents drivers from using the Lunalilo onramp to get on the H-1, redirecting them instead a half-mile down to the Vineyard/Punchbowl onramp. The idea is to see whether drivers are saving enough commute time to warrant permanently closing the Lunalilo onramp.)

"Separating the traffic near the Punchbowl intersection would impact those drivers who are already asked to make a slight detour," Ishikawa said.

He said it also would "taint the data" the department plans to take soon on the traffic flow, as part of the project.

The project was scheduled to end Oct. 29, but it might have to be extended because the Transportation Department is still trying to find the right time to properly measure traffic flow data.

The problem is that the city's sewage line project on Kapiolani Boulevard has meant there are no contraflow lanes on that major roadway, resulting in "1,000 more cars per hour on the H-1 into town in the morning," Ishikawa said.

It's difficult to get proper data on how the Lunalilo project is working when such "X factors are being thrown in" and skewing the data, he said.

Ishikawa noted that the department has received about 50 calls from people "saying (the project is) working," and about five calls from those who believe it's a failure. A survey will be handed out to drivers at the end of the project to get more feedback.

"We know people are saving time, but is it the optimal time?" That's the question that needs to be answered, Ishikawa said.

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