Question: When will the repaving of Kalanianaole Highway from Ainakoa Avenue to Lunalilo Home Road start?
Answer: “In the next several months,” says the state Department of Transportation.
The repaving contract for Kalanianaole Highway, from West Hind Drive to the vicinity of Hanauma Bay Road, was recently awarded, said DOT spokeswoman Caroline Sluyter.
Once details are finalized, the DOT will alert the public about the project and lane closures through the news media, message boards, area legislators, the DOT website and the DOT’s Facebook and Twitter accounts, she said.
The DOT plans several major repaving projects this year, including Vineyard Boulevard (expected to begin next month) and Kamehameha Highway near Mililani.
More details will be released as the projects get closer to starting, Sluyter said.
Regarding the Pali Highway, relief is coming, but not in the near future. We reported last summer — is.gd/WBIfH0 — that the major resurfacing of the Pali from Waokanaka Street to Kamehameha Highway will go out to bid later this year.
That still is the plan, probably in late summer, Sluyter said. Depending on the availability of funds, the stretch from Waokanaka to Vineyard Boulevard may go out to bid next year.
The DOT does not have an online listing of planned repaving of state roads.
To find the city’s schedule for repaving its streets from now to 2017, go to www1.honolulu.gov/ddc/roadrepavingupdate.htm.
Question: When an inspection at the airport is done with a TSA-approved baggage lock attached, is it a policy to reinstall the lock or not? Upon arrival at my destination, I experienced a baggage with both TSA-approved locks missing. The locks were used to secure a hard cover to the golf bag (not a travel golf bag). When the locks were not reinstalled to secure the hard cover to the bag, the hard cover got damaged. It was very fortunate the cover did not come completely off and my golf clubs were OK. I’m planning another golf trip and would like to know TSA’s policy.
Answer: “If a TSA-approved lock is used, the lock will be reapplied,” according to Nico Melendez, spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration in Los Angeles.
Why that didn’t happen in your case, we don’t know.
“Occasionally, the master keys we have are unable to unlock a bag, so the lock must be cut,” Melendez said when asked.
Asked whether any kind of written notification is given to the passenger, he said, “If we open a bag, we notify passengers the bag has been opened.”
That apparently didn’t happen in your case, but there was no further explanation offered.
Melendez pointed to the TSA’s website, with information on TSA-approved locks: www.tsa.gov/traveler-information/baggage-locks.
Mahalo
To a gentleman who made the beginning of my New Year’s a bright one. Taking my mother to Safeway in Salt Lake was very stressful and frustrating because of her dementia. I am her caregiver and as we were leaving she dropped her credit card. Driving out of the parking lot, a man in a blue military uniform waved at us from another car. I ignored him, thinking it was road rage, and drove off. To my surprise, he followed me home in Salt Lake and approached us as we were getting out of the car. He said he saw my mother drop her card. What a surprise. Thank you many times over for you have renewed my faith in people and have made this caregiver start a new year with a lot of hope and good will. — B. Sasaki/Salt Lake
Mahalo
To the state Department of Transportation for restriping the far right lane going to Waipahu after taking the H-1 freeway cutoff. For years, and I mean years, I’ve had to merge with ongoing Ewa-bound traffic, finally getting in to go to Waipahu. The new cutoff is such a breeze and it eliminates a lot of my headaches. — Donna M. Cadiente/Waipahu
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