Pali exit to get new lights; airport will have reflectors

QUESTION: Why have the highway lights been dark at the Pali Highway exit from the H-1 freeway westbound? Also, the lights at both the entrance and exit of Honolulu Airport are out. Both areas have been dark for nearly a year.

ANSWER: The reason given for the nonfunctioning lights near the Pali exit is one that’s become a common refrain to explain dark stretches of state roadways: The wiring was stolen.

Not once, but "several times," according to Caroline Sluyter, spokeswoman for the Department of Transportation.

That area of the H-1 is part of the $42 million H-1 Freeway Rehabilitation Project, which includes upgrading highway lights. So that outage will be addressed through the mostly federally funded project.

The project, which began in September, is scheduled to be finished by the end of summer. The DOT expects the lights to be fixed by then, Sluyter said.

As for the dark areas at the airport’s entrance and exit ramps, the DOT replaced some lights with reflectors along barrier walls, and more will be installed this month and next month, she said.

The plan is to stick with reflectors in the airport ramp areas.

"The former lights mounted along the railing were removed due to age and safety issues related to maintenance of the lights in that area," she said.

We asked how many lights the DOT had on its Oahu roadways and how many are out at any given time.

On Oahu the DOT has approximately 11,000 lights that may go out for a number of reasons, including circuit breakers tripping, copper theft, age, testing and the occasional rodent that chews through the wiring, Sluyter said.

It doesn’t keep a running total of how many lights are out at any given time, she said, but added that three full-time employees work on repairing, replacing and maintaining highway lighting and electrical systems.

Outages may be reported by calling the DOT at 831-6714. The public should call police to report suspicious activity, Sluyter said.

QUESTION: While driving on H-1 eastbound, near the Vineyard onramp, I heard an emergency siren and tried to locate it to get out of its way. It ended up being a large service truck, the kind the city uses to pick up bulky items. Is this a real emergency vehicle? There were no flashing lights, just the siren and everyone wasn’t getting out of its way because the truck didn’t look like an emergency vehicle. When I passed it, there was seal/logo of some kind on its door, but I couldn’t read what it said. The truck exited on the Koko Head offramp.

ANSWER: That likely was a Honolulu Fire Department vehicle.

"One can’t be positive," but based on the information you provided, it appears it was a "detail truck" taking air bottles and other supplies to a fire that broke out on Diamond Head around the same time, said HFD spokesman Capt. Terry Seelig.

But the truck clearly has a lightbar on its roof, and the crew confirmed that it was responding to the emergency with lights and sirens on, he said.

According to Section 15-2.4 of the Revised Ordinances of Honolulu, authorized emergency vehicles are any vehicles of the Police and Fire departments, or of a federal law enforcement or fire protection agency. It includes privately owned vehicles by police officers approved by the police chief to be used in the performance of their duties, as well as any federal, state and county ambulance; any vehicle used by the medical examiner’s office in the performance of official duties. It also could mean any other private vehicle approved by the city or by the state Department of Health’s emergency medical services systems branch.

MAHALO

To the person who turned in a wheelchair I had forgotten in the parking lot of Times Super Market Beretania in December. I was so excited it was found after I had backtracked to Kaneohe Memorial Park, thinking I forgot it there, that I forgot to ask if you left your name. — Greatly Relieved

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