Question: After a couple of years affected by construction, it appears that Hawaii Kai drivers are not enjoying any significant benefits from the widening of westbound Kalanianaole Highway between Keahole Street and Hawaii Kai Drive. The promised result was to be a full-time, unrestricted right turn from Keahole to the new third lane of Kalanianaole, similar to the access from Lunalilo Home Road. Instead, since there are no markings or physical restrictions preventing oncoming westbound traffic from merging into the new lane, drivers turning right from Keahole continue to stop at the red light. This is the same situation that existed prior to the construction. Is there a plan to add signage and/or pavement marking to restrict westbound vehicles from merging into the third lane, thus allowing a free-flowing right turn from Keahole Street?
Question: If I recall correctly, the state spent over a million dollars widening the right-turn lane off Keahole Street onto Kalanianaole Highway in Hawaii Kai to create a separate lane for drivers making a right turn at that intersection. However, many drivers continue to make a complete stop at the intersection instead of proceeding with caution and making their right turn. Can someone from the state Department of Transportation review the traffic signs and road markers and see if they need to be corrected to instruct drivers as to what to do when making a right turn at this intersection?
Answer: We’ve received more than a half-dozen complaints about this intersection and chose two to sum up the frustration that the two-year, nearly $2 million project on Kalanianaole isn’t doing what it was meant to do: relieve traffic congestion.
According to a state Department of Transportation news release at the start of the project in June 2010, the extended third lane "will provide more traffic flow from the busy Keahole Street intersection and a safer merge for motorists entering Kalanianaole Highway from Keahole Street."
The complaints all indicated a belief that the project was to do away with the stop on red from the right lane of Keahole to a new dedicated lane.
But that never was the DOT’s intent.
In fact, on March 16 the DOT posted a sign on Keahole approaching the intersection saying, "No Right Turn on Red Except from Right Lane After Stop," said spokeswoman Caroline Sluyter.
"That new lane was to help vehicles merge safely and to keep the other lanes flowing more freely," she said. "Motorists in the rightmost turn lane are required to stop at the red light and should proceed with caution only after checking for oncoming traffic, including bicyclists and pedestrians."
Sluyter said the DOT did monitor the intersection after complaints and "at this time" believes no additional road markings or signs are required if people just obey the current markings and signs.
"We ask for the public’s cooperation to drive with aloha and comply with the posted signs," she said.
Mahalo
To a cabdriver who showed aloha. I took the last bus from Waikiki to Honolulu Airport on May 16, to take Hawaiian Airlines’ first flight out the next day to return to Maui. But the airport had closed. I have been flying for over 63 years and have had a few all-nighters. A security guard said, "You can go to a resting area and rest until 4 a.m. when the Hawaiian terminal opens." I then met two young ladies from the Czech Republic who had missed their flight. While we were waiting, a brown cab dropped a man off. I jokingly asked the cabbie if he had any coffee, and he said, "No," with a smile. He left, but within 10 minutes — lo and behold! — he returned with three hot coffees, sugar, cream and two sticky buns. All three of us were astonished but very happy and grateful. If he reads this, I hope he lets me know his name and the name of his company. — Franklin and Two Strangers in the Night
