Question: I am the spouse of a retired Department of Defense civilian worker and previously had a DOD pass — a civilian ID — to go to all military bases by myself. But when I went to renew my pass last year, I was given only a visitor’s pass, which allows me to go only to Schofield and other Army facilities. To get on any other base, I now have to have my husband with me. Why and who decided this?
Answer: The answer as you probably can guess has to do with tightened security.
The change is a result of “DOD guidance pertaining to access to military installations,” said Dennis Drake, director of public affairs for U.S. Army Garrison-Hawaii.
“Previously the Army was recognizing over 40 separate forms of identification that would allow personnel to access our bases,” he said. “The number and types of approved ID cards were reduced in order for each of the bases to better control access to their installations.”
Currently, the only forms of ID cards that are recognized across all military services are the Common Access Cards and DD FORM 2.
Drake said that DOD policy allows only active-duty or retired active-duty personnel and their spouses to have access to all DOD installations with those ID cards.
The Army discontinued issuing DD Form 1602, which was issued to spouses of retired DOD civilian employees, in 2011 and replaced it with the new Installation Access Pass ID cards, he said.
These cards allow access to Army installations only and must be renewed annually.
“We apologize for the inconvenience” that you’ve experienced, Drake said, “but the Army has no say over the policy decisions of our sister services.”
You can get an IAP application from the Installation Pass Office, at Leilehua Golf Course, between 7:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Your sponsor (husband) has to be present when the card is issued. For information on what you need to bring, call 655-1620.
Question: A friend was recently reprimanded by an alleged Honolulu Police Department officer for using the right hand lane that exits the Pali Highway onto Punchbowl Street. There are two lanes, one that merges onto H-1, the other that sends traffic onto Punchbowl Street. Almost all akamai drivers queue into two lanes, although there are no painted lane dividers on this ramp. Occasionally an ignorant driver will hop both lanes, obstructing traffic in the right lane. Why doesn’t the state Department of Transportation stripe the off/on ramp?
Answer: “The officer was correct,” according to the DOT.
That’s because there is not enough space on the ramp to stripe two lanes.
The width of the ramp from curb to curb — or guardrail to guardrail — is less than 22 feet, said DOT spokeswoman Caroline Sluyter.
National standards require a pavement width of 30 feet for a two-lane ramp, with an inner edge pavement curve radius of 300 feet.
If two lanes, less than 11 feet wide each, were striped, commercial vehicles would not be able to stay in their lanes around the two 300-feet radius curves, Sluyter explained.
MAHALO
To a gentleman who stopped us as we were driving by on Ward Avenue on June 8 to tell us our tire was going flat. He was leaving work and was with his pregnant wife when he saw us and insisted on changing our tire. He absolutely would not take any remuneration for doing so, saying that’s what he did for a living. He said he worked at Revolution Motorsports. We really wanted to thank him because we’re both elderly and no way could we have changed the tire ourselves. We took some sushi to him as a thank you the next day and that’s when we found out that David Silva is the owner of Revolution Motorsports. Mahalo, David, for your kind heart and help. — James and Camille
McConnell
