Traffic smooth in
back-to-school rush

The morning rush hour started earlier and lasted longer yesterday as classes resumed at many public schools, the University of Hawaii, Chaminade University and community colleges.

There were no major traffic problems as many of the 41,600 college students joined commuters on the road, said state Department of Transportation spokesman Scott Ishikawa.

"It was not as bad as everybody expected," he said.

Motorists apparently heeded the state-city "Beat the School Jam" campaign that urges getting an early start, as well as car-pooling, van-pooling and taking TheBus, he said.

The advice still holds. Some 99 public schools resumed classes yesterday and today, and private school students are added to the mix with Iolani School and Maryknoll School opening today and Punahou School classes resuming Thursday.

"We've noticed that the first back-to-school day may go well, but a day or two later, it's a jam," said Honolulu Police Department spokeswoman Michelle Yu. There were "just the usual rush-hour problems," she said, but drivers should not be lulled.

Ishikawa said there is a rush-hour bottleneck near Waikele where the H-2 freeway merges into H-1 and the Zipper Lane begins, probably because of the "novelty of the extended lane." There are new users of the Zipper Lane since it was extended to the Nimitz Highway contra-flow lane last week. Vehicles with two or more people can now continue in the faster lane into Iwilei.

"The big thing we did was raise the awareness of the public by publicizing when schools would be back in session," said Ed Hirata, director of the city Department of Transportation Services, about the "Beat the School Jam" campaign, which he started 18 years ago as head of the state Transportation Department. "It gives people the opportunity to plan ahead."