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Mililani lane closure
not scheduled yet

Question: An electrical sign appeared on Kamehameha Highway in Mililani recently stating the highway would be closed from 9 p.m. today until 11:59 p.m. tomorrow. After two days the sign was removed. Does this mean that it won't be in effect? What are/were they planning to do?

Answer: This was a case of premature notification.

There are plans to improve the waterline in the area, but it won't be happening this week.

Planned waterline improvements along Kamehameha Highway near the Kipapa Gulch area will require lane closures, said Scott Ishikawa, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation.

However, the traffic control plan has not been approved, so it was premature of the contractor to put up the electronic message warning of roadway closures, he said.

"We apologize for any confusion, and we will notify the public when the work actually begins after the traffic plan is approved," Ishikawa said.

Q: I was dismayed to see that lane markings on Wilder Avenue were recently repainted. This seems to indicate that the road won't be repaved any time soon. Wilder, a major artery in densely populated Makiki, has been in very bad condition for years, with a few patches here and there that last a few weeks at best. It is dangerous because hitting some of the potholes can wrench a car out of its lane and because drivers trying to avoid potholes frequently weave back and forth over two lanes. Is repaving scheduled?

A: No.

The best that can be done at this point is to have the city's pothole crew fill in the holes.

That portion of Wilder Avenue "has been identified in need of resurfacing," said Laverne Higa, the new director of the city Department of Facility Maintenance.

However, because of limited funds and a need to resurface roads in worse condition, the resurfacing of Wilder Avenue has not been programmed into the budget, she said.

In the meantime "we will send the pothole crew," Higa said.

Q: What does one do if he keeps getting mail of former tenants of the same apartment? What is the normal procedure to stop this repetitive mistake?

A: The first step is to talk to your mail carrier and point out that the addressee no longer lives there.

Or just write that fact on the envelope and return it to the mail to be returned to the sender, said Lynne Moore, manager of consumer affairs for the U.S. Postal Service in Hawaii.

However, you might have to bear getting someone else's mail for a while until the old information is purged from everyone's system -- the postal service's as well as the senders.

Moore pointed out that the postal service's obligation is to deliver mail to the address, not to the addressee.

"We're sorry (you are receiving) other people's mail, but we are fulfilling our obligation to the mailer," she said.

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