![]() ![]() ![]() The long queues and long periods of stop-and-go congestion will get a little shorter. This lane addition, if implemented, will be “too little too late” but will provide some congestion relief. There are also some plans to add a lane at the H-1/H-2 merge. It’ll help somewhat, but this one lane per direction addition is not enough for the current, let alone future levels of demand to/from west Oahu. This has helped a lot!Īlso, the DOT is adding a lane on each side of the Pearl City viaduct on the H-1 Freeway. This is what Oahu needed to begin with.įirst, let’s not forget that the Hawaii State Department of Transportation added a lane on each side of the central part of the H-1 Freeway in 2014. ![]() Kakaako’s revitalization will be heavily impacted.ĭespite all this, given Hawaii’s political and decision-making reality, at this time there is no point to “fight the rail.” But there is a clear need to fight for traffic congestion solutions. Mauka-makai movements between Chinatown and Ala Moana will be critically affected. Neither shop owners nor patrons can be allowed in a construction site. A long, dissecting portion of Kakaako will be an active construction site. This will be quite annoying to frequent interisland travelers and on occasion it may result in missed flights.Īround year 2020, several street blocks in downtown and Kakaako will be closed for months at a time. As a result, word will get out in the tourist market that Oahu is one huge traffic and construction mess.Īssuming that construction progresses normally, around year 2017, construction by the airport will have major impacts on the access and land-side operations at the Honolulu International Airport. Next year the project may be in the vicinity of Pearl Harbor and Aloha Stadium. In a typical scenario, half of Farrington Highway, Kamehameha Highway and Dillingham Boulevard will have to be closed for many months at a time. HART can’t build 21 roughly football-field-sized concrete stations 30 feet in the air and leave lanes open to traffic under it during construction. Starting this year, there will be extensive lane closures to build the guideway and the street-spanning stations. By the time some usable portion of the project is done, say, Kapolei to Pearl City, its (tiny) traffic reduction will be already surpassed by traffic growth given the tens of thousands of planned new homes west of Aloha Stadium. Honolulu rail will never provide any congestion relief for the traveling public. Honolulu has among the worst traffic flow conditions in the nation because it is grossly lane-deficient, that is, Honolulu has too few lane miles for its population and travel patterns. Rebar frames the Honolulu rail project’s concrete pier foundations located near the H1 and H2 freeway merges fronting Leeward Community College. What’s the bottom line on traffic congestion on Oahu? But for $550 million we got TV and newspaper ads, building and office rentals, salaries, traveling expenses for planners and officials, piles of photocopying and plain and three-hole paper, laptop and desktop computers, cellphone and courier bills, and magazine subscriptions.Īnd a lot more traffic congestion since 2006 when the rail project started. Other agencies on the mainland can complete a 10-mile multi-lane freeway including all planning, design and clearances for this sum of money. Unfortunately this is easier said than done given that between FY 2008 and FY 2012 more than $550 million was spent and hardly any project was laid on the ground! So what can be done about stopping the rail project now? Nothing, other than holding HART and the City accountable for project expenditures. The recent commotion has been brought about by (1) the large delays the project is roughly three years behind schedule because the city did a poor job with the archaeological inventory and then deliberately delayed and obstructed the two lawsuits (2) the revelations last December that the project is already about $900 million over budget, and (3) the City Ethics Commission’s investigation on the non-disclosure of rail project related gifts to five City Council Members, which could potentially reverse some important pro-rail votes and approvals. Various groups are energized and urge me and each other to do something about stopping Honolulu’s rail project.
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