Question: Is there a number where I can report empty intersections? On my way to work, assorted lights going up the Pali turn red and there are no cars turning from the cross streets. Morning rush-hour drivers have plenty of time to wonder about government efficiency and who they voted for. This is citywide. The city/state DOTs recently put in another speed bump on the Pali, which makes three in less than a quarter mile, and recently lowered the speed limit. They seem much more concerned with slowing down traffic than facilitating its flow.
Answer: Yes, you can call 808-768-8387, which Honolulu’s Department of Transportation Services posts as the number to report malfunctioning traffic lights on Oahu during regular business hours. A DTS spokesperson confirmed that traffic light concerns of any kind can be called in, including your suggestion to improve the timing of traffic signals on Pali Highway. When you call, include the names of the cross streets. You may also wish to inform Honolulu’s Department of Customer Services, which keeps track of complaints to city departments and follows up as necessary. You can email CSD at complaints@honolulu.gov.
Other contact information for DTS is posted at 808ne.ws/3RANS8Y. There’s a link to a Traffic Survey Request Form posted on the page, but it was inoperable Friday, perhaps due to an overhaul of the city website last week; broken links are expected be corrected within a few days.
Pali Highway is a state road, but its traffic lights are overseen by the city because the state Department of Transportation contracts maintenance of traffic signals on state roads on Oahu to the municipal government, except for the 34 lights along Nimitz Highway and Ala Moana Boulevard, said Shelly Kunishige, a spokesperson for the state DOT. If signals were malfunctioning or mistimed in that area you would contact the state DOT, but on Pali Highway DTS is the right call. People also can contact DOT if roadwork impairs traffic lights on an open state road “because in that case we would follow up with the project manager,” she said. Find contact information for the state DOT highways division at 808ne.ws/3GDCAyk.
You also mentioned speed bumps, which in this case are actually raised crosswalks installed at three intersections on Pali Highway in Nuuanu that don’t have traffic lights; they are intended to slow traffic and make pedestrians more visible. The newest is at Wood Street, between raised crosswalks that were installed in late 2020 (and reinstalled in 2022) at Upper Dowsett Avenue and Lower Dowsett Avenue.
“Raised crosswalks and speed tables have many similarities such as a 3-inch height and 5.6% slope on the leading ramp, but a raised crosswalk has crosswalk markings painted on it and is meant to serve as a crosswalk that elevates the pedestrians using it to increase visibility. HDOT is installing the raised crosswalk (at Wood Street) to maximize the speed management improvements we’ve already seen with our installations on Pali Highway at Upper and Lower Dowsett,” Kunishige said in an email Wednesday.
DOT staff spoke about this at a town hall at Kawananakoa Middle School in January, presenting the design of the Pali crossing at Wood Street, a speed comparison chart and other information, and “had significant support for the countermeasure,” she said.
The speed limit on the Pali in Nuuanu from Jack Lane to Waokanaka Street was lowered from 35 mph to 30 mph in October 2020.
Data gathered before and after the speed limit was lowered and raised crosswalks were installed showed that average speeds have declined, as has the speed of the fastest drivers, according to the DOT. For example, before the changes, the average speed southbound at Pali and Upper Dowsett was 47 mph, while drivers in the 85th percentile were going 63 mph. Afterward, those figures dropped to 39 mph and 45 mph, respectively.
Some area residents have said they would prefer traffic lights to raised crosswalks, but the DOT says adding signals would increase travel time in the corridor up to 15% and worsen crash rates because the intersections are so close together — Lower Dowsett Avenue to Wood Street is about 700 feet, and Wood Street to Upper Dowsett is about 800 feet.
The average crash rate when there are two or fewer traffic signals per mile is 3.5 crashes per million vehicle miles. The average crash rate rises to 6.9 when there are more than two signals, to 7.5 when there are more than four and to 9.1 when there are more than six traffic signals per mile, according to the DOT. There are 5,280 feet in a mile.
The nearest intersections with traffic lights in that stretch of the Pali are Nuuanu Pali Drive and Country Club Road, both of which are within 1,500 feet of Wood Street, according to the DOT. That means there would be five traffic signals in the span of 3,000 feet if the three raised crosswalks were replaced with traffic lights.
Mahalo
We were enjoying the ‘Ukulele Jam at Windward Mall on Saturday — hundreds of folks were wandering around the mall — when a security guard approached my 90-year-old dad playing along and showed him a picture on his phone and asked if it was him. It was! Dad had dropped his wallet in the mall without realizing it and the staff had opened it up, looked at his ID and searched in the mall until they found the guy who looked like the photo before we even noticed it was missing! Mahalo! — L.R.M.
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 2-200, Honolulu, HI 96813; call 808-529-4773; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
