Question: How come there are no colored DOH placards at the farmers market vendors who sell cooked foods?

Answer: Because such vendors are regulated under a different state Department of Health permitting system, as temporary food establishments. The placards apply only to permanent, fixed establishments, not booths at short-term events.

Under Hawaii Administrative Rules, Title 11, Department of Health, Chapter 50, Food Safety Code, “Temporary food establishment means any food establishment which operates at a fixed location for a limited period of time and does not exceed 20 days in any one 120-day period and does not sell products to other food establishments.”

Besides farmers markets, this category includes common school fundraisers such as chicken sales, carnivals and concession stands; there are many other examples, as well.

Any temporary food establishment selling potentially hazardous food is supposed to obtain a permit to operate the temporary establishment. In doing so, vendors face some of the same health and safety considerations as the permanent restaurants, catering companies, institutional kitchens and other facilities operating under the inspection system that awards the easy-to-read, color-coded placards.

Among the requirements specified in the permit application for temporary food establishments: Food must be prepared in an approved kitchen or obtained from a source approved by the Health Department; hot food must be kept above 135 degrees Fahrenheit, and cold foods must be kept below 41 degrees Fahrenheit; and workers must practice regular hand washing, must not be ill and should have no bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat food.

Peter Oshiro, who oversees the DOH’s inspection program, noted that many vendors who sell prepared food at farmers markets have fixed establishment as the base of their food-service operations. Such vendors would have a color-coded food-safety placard for their permanent place.

Q: The city says about 700 bicyclists a day are using the King Street lane. How did it count them?

A: The Department of Transportation relies on a combination of visual counts done by department staffers and automatic tallies recorded by tubular devices on the street.

Surveys are conducted on a 12-hour basis, from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Manual surveys allow the department to obtain bicycle ridership data for the entire public right of way, including sidewalks, according to the department’s website. Tube counters are quicker to deploy, officials noted, but are limited to counting bicyclists only in the King Street Protected Bike Lane.

The two methods have generated consistent results. They have been deployed at different points along the protected lane, which extends about 2 miles along King Street from Alapai to Isenberg streets.

The city cites an 88 percent increase in bicycle ridership along the route since before the protected lane opened in December 2014. Bike traffic initially flowed one way in the Diamond Head direction; the lane welcomed Ewa-bound bicycle traffic in May.

Fewer than 400 bicyclists a day (12-hour period) were counted along the route in August 2014, before the lane opened. That figured topped 700 by June.

Moreover, only 7 percent of the bicyclists were riding on the sidewalk, down from 67 percent before the protected lane opened, according to the Department of Transportation.

You can read more about the surveys at 808ne.ws/1P1yCw2.

Auwe

Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m., driving town-bound, I witnessed westbound traffic backed up for miles, up to just past Makakilo. The cause: a blocked westbound right lane going into Nanakuli. There were three white trucks, one with a lift bucket, parked partly in the right lane, doing work, reducing the precious two lanes into one. Those trucks had been there for at least four hours, since I had to merge earlier going to Waianae. I don’t enjoy sitting in traffic backups. I’m sure the folks headed into the West side felt the same. We can do better. Any work that blocks vehicular traffic should be carefully evaluated for its impact on traffic, especially on the weekends. Protect the West side’s precious four lanes, and only allow work that will not cause unnecessary traffic backups. — R. Shishido

Write to “Kokua Line” at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.