Waipahu businesses regain left-turn lane

Tanioka’s Seafoods & Catering and about 20 other Waipahu businesses along the rail line will get a partial reprieve from construction now that the left-turn lane into their shopping complex is back, surprisingly.

Rail officials joined a handful of local politicians Tuesday to announce they’d deemed it safe to restore that westbound left turn at the corner of Moloalo Street and Farrington Highway. Tanioka’s had already scaled back its hours due to the rail construction and multiple businesses said they were hurting without the turn.

Rail workers shut down the turn several months ago, forcing westbound drivers to make a U-turn at the next traffic signal. That move was expected to be permanent because officials originally contended the concrete columns would block the sight lines needed to safely turn there, they said Monday.

Losing the turn “affects everybody along this way because Farrington Highway gets backed up, that U-turn gets backed up,” Jasmine Tanioka, the store’s chief financial officer, said Tuesday. “All the businesses cannot function on this side because it affects everybody, so this left-hand turn was truly significant.”

The left turn at Tanioka’s was among 19 such left turns slated to be permanently closed along the first 10 miles of the rail line, with multiple businesses along that stretch complaining of severe cuts to their bottom line. Some 64 total left turns will close either temporarily or permanently during the construction for the first 10 miles, rail officials say.

Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation Executive Director Dan Grabauskas said that the rail agency is now re-examining many of those intersections to see if any other turn lanes could be spared. He didn’t specify which — if any — might also get reprieves.

“Every intersection is going to be unique, and every one is going to have its own challenges,” he said at a news briefing held on the second floor above Tanioka’s on Tuesday. Local officials changed their minds after they asked construction workers with Kiewit Infrastructure West to give the intersection a closer look. The officials concluded that drivers could safely turn there in part because the columns there will be spaced farther apart than normal due to a drainage ditch that crosses the area, Grabauskas said.

Workers will add space to the left-turn lane to fit as many as five vehicles, instead of about two, Grabauskas added.

It’s not guaranteed that the newly restored turn will be permanent. State transportation officials say they’ll study further whether the left turn is safe as rail construction continues there, probably into 2017. If there are accidents or incidents that indicate the turn isn’t safe, they’ll reverse the call, they say.

“We are hopeful — we have to be hopeful,” Tanioka said of the turn staying there. The business has operated 37 years, she said.

In July, another popular West Oahu business, Flamingo Restaurant Bakery and Cocktail Lounge, closed its Pearl City location after 35 years there amid slumping sales that coincided with rail construction along Kamehameha Highway.

Starting in August, Tanioka’s opened at 9 a.m. — an hour later than normal — due to the rail construction. Even with the left turn back, it’s not going to restore the 8 a.m. opening, General Manager Justin Tanioka said. Instead, store officials will reassess once construction ends there.

He declined to give a percentage of how much sales were down amid construction, but said, “It was significant enough where we had to go to the Waipahu (Neighborhood) Board and pitch a case for us.

“We haven’t really cut anybody, we’re trying to take care of our employees the best we can,” he added.

The store was packed with customers midday Tuesday after the left turn was restored. One of those customers, Ewa resident Colin Chang, said he believed the move would boost local business. But Chang added that with all of the rail construction and lane closures “to me, it seems that Farrington Highway’s changing every day.”

Rail officials say they don’t have the numbers yet on left turns to be closed from Aloha Stadium to Ala Moana Center.

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Star-Advertiser reporter Jayna Omaye contributed to this report.