Following 11⁄2 days of nightmarish traffic on Oahu, state Department of Transportation officials said Wednesday that they will never again allow both of their two ZipMobiles to be down at the same time.
The problem started Tuesday morning when the DOT’s new deputy director of highways tried to help stalled westbound commuters.
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While trying to "unzip" the westbound H-1 freeway ZipperLane, one ZipMobile broke down at 9:30 a.m. with battery pack and central processing unit problems, leaving two of the four westbound lanes cut off from use.
DOT protocol dictates that one ZipMobile must be operational at all times. But driving the lone working ZipMobile from its barn on the H-1 median near Honolulu Airport to Waikele meant drivers would be stuck in traffic for an additional 90 minutes or so. Then the ZipMobile would need three more hours to put the ZipperLane back to its noncommute configuration.
So at about 10 a.m. Ed Sniffen, a DOT veteran who has been in his new job as deputy director since January, agreed with the recommendation of the ZipMobile’s manufacturer — ignoring DOT protocol — to pull the working battery pack and CPU out of the backup ZipMobile and install it in the broken one.
At about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, as stalled westbound drivers on H-1 shouted abuses at DOT officials holding an informal news conference near the ZipMobile barn, Sniffen took full responsibility for the mess that ensued.
"I took a calculated risk," he said. "I made the call."
It turned out to be the wrong call.
NIGHT OF THE LONG DRIVES
Frustrated commuters described their trafficastrophe experiences on the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s Facebook page.
Posted between 5 and 10 p.m. Tuesday
Horror stories
» "Downtown to Waianae on the bus, I’d say six, maybe seven hours. I have a friend who left Queen’s Medical Center at 4:30 and just passed the airport! That’s almost five hours in traffic, not counting the next few miles they have yet to travel. This traffic is beyond ridiculous."
» "Took four hours from Fort Shafter to Kapolei."
» "Took us 31/2 hours to go from City Mill on Nimitz to Alakawa … finally turned around and did circle island and took 21/2 hours to get home."
» "Six hours from Kakaako to Nimitz Kmart and still sitting in it. Nearly out of gas."
I’d rather be flying
» "Traveling with DOE colleagues from Kona. We were trapped and missed three flights back to Big Island. Took us four hours from Kaimuki Middle School to Lowe’s on Nimitz. Finally turned around and checked into Ala Moana Hotel."
» "Five hours and 40 minutes … could have taken a flight to Vegas!"
Conspiracy theories
» "The city or whomever purposely shut traffic down in the worst possible scenario to make us suffer. … Methinks the mayor wants his rail funds!"
» "How many people are now thinking rail is a good idea, days after their ‘town hall’ went south? Coincidence? You decide!"
Just compensation
» "Free vehicle registration for a year for all."
» "State holiday tomorrow ’cause it’s their fault."
For more comments or to post your own, go to facebook.com/staradvertiser.
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Instead of fixing the broken ZipMobile and getting traffic flow back to normal quickly Tuesday morning, the replacement power pack and CPU also malfunctioned in the broken ZipMobile, leaving the DOT with no working ZipMobile — and no way to get the ZipperLane back to its normal operation.
The stuck ZipperLane triggered widespread gridlock.
The problems continued for hours after the ZipMobile was back in action early Wednesday afternoon after Kevin Schmidt — a technician from Lindsay Transportation Solutions Sales and Service LLC — arrived with replacement battery packs and CPUs and backups for each ZipMobile.
Each combined battery pack and CPU costs $1,200 to $1,500. Sniffen had no estimate of how much the DOT paid to fly Schmidt in from California.
"I absolutely apologize for the congestion people had to go through," Sniffen said. "It’s my fault. I gotta fix it. If we followed our protocol, if we kept a vehicle operational, we wouldn’t be having this conversation."
Sniffen, 42, is a political and bureaucratic veteran who has worked for Kamehameha Schools. He has worked for the DOT three separate times and left Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s administration to rejoin DOT overseeing the Highways Division.
After Schmidt landed and got the backup ZipMobile started in 10 to 15 minutes, Sniffen smiled and started to breathe easier.
"That was the longest 10 to 15 minutes of my life," he said. "It’s a really happy moment."
Gov. David Ige called the traffic congestion "an unfortunate sequence of events."
"This is one of those learning moments," Ige said, and "an opportunity to learn what better efforts we can make."
Both state and city department heads were empowered Wednesday to let thousands of government downtown workers leave early to avoid traffic snags that continued Wednesday after the ZipMobile was repaired and the ZipperLane slowly returned to its normal configuration.
DOT Director Ford Fuchigami said he spoke with the ZipMobile’s software manufacturer and was told that power pack and CPU problems are a "rare occurrence."
Ige called the gridlock that followed a "perfect storm" of events.
Ige and Fuchigami said the state did not anticipate both ZipMobiles being out of action at the same time. Newly hired DOT spokesman Tim Sakahara is on vacation and was unavailable to help communicate the severity of the problem to commuters.
Fuchigami said he has talked with the ZipMobile manufacturer about replacing both ZipMobiles, which he said were 15 years old in 2014 and nearly at the end of their 20-year lifespans.
A new vehicle would cost $3.8 million. Including parts and maintenance, the price tag for two new ZipMobiles would run about $11 million, Fuchigami said.
He did not know whether other manufacturers’ vehicles would work with the DOT’s ZipperLane but said $11 million seems to be the typical cost for two ZipMobiles.
Ige said his administration is considering asking the Legislature to add the cost to the budget.
To help reduce congestion Wednesday, the city and state canceled freeway and road construction projects in Ewa-bound lanes.
Sniffen spent much of the day apologizing and taking responsibility for not notifying the public earlier about the traffic problems — and for not using the second ZipMobile to close the ZipperLane.
"We didn’t anticipate the gridlock that was going to happen," Sniffen said, "and we should have."
The DOT said it had completed repairs to the main ZipMobiles early Wednesday evening, and would test one at 11 p.m. by using it to open the ZipperLane early for the Thursday morning commute — allowing ample time to get the backup in place in case of mechanical failure.
ANATOMY OF ROADEBACLE
How the ZipMobile breakdown led to 11/2 days of horrific traffic:
9:30 A.M. TUESDAY
» While "unzipping" the westbound ZipperLane, the ZipMobile breaks down near Waikele. Westbound lanes of the freeway are reduced from four to two. The ZipMobile is towed to the median.
» One option is to spend 90 minutes driving the backup ZipMobile to Waikele to continue unzipping the lane. Instead, a decision is made not to inconvenience drivers by having only two lanes instead of four for the 90 minutes it would take to get the working ZipMobile in place. The ZipMobile’s manufacturer recommends pulling the power pack and CPU from the backup ZipMobile to install in the broken one, violating DOT protocol that one ZipMobile be operational at all times.
3 P.M. TUESDAY
» Westbound traffic is a mess, creating ripples across Oahu well into the night.
2 P.M. TO 6 P.M. TUESDAY
» Honolulu police — unaware of the ZipperLane problems — issue 65 tickets for illegally using cellphones and other electronic devices during a planned traffic enforcement action near Waimano Home Road.
11:47 A.M. WEDNESDAY
» Technician Kevin Schmidt from the ZipMobile’s manufacturer arrives on a flight from California with battery packs and CPUs for both ZipMobiles.
12:45 P.M. WEDNESDAY
» Schmidt fires up the backup ZipMobile and drives out to Waikele to start working on the disabled one.
1:18 P.M. WEDNESDAY
» Drivers are no longer allowed to use the ZipLane, reducing the westbound H-1 to two lanes.
1:40 P.M. WEDNESDAY
» Schmidt arrives in Waikele and is given 10 minutes to diagnose the problem with the broken ZipMobile before the working ZipMobile has to start unzipping the ZipperLane to get traffic moving. Schmidt is able to start the ZipMobile but the computer cannot communicate with the articulating arm that manipulates the ZipperLane.
2 P.M. WEDNESDAY
» The fully operational ZipMobile begins unzipping the ZipperLane, a process that takes about three hours. Traffic continues to back up as the malfunctioning ZipMobile also heads eastbound back to the ZipMobile barn for further diagnosis and repairs.
4:30 A.M. THURSDAY
» DOT officials will decide whether at least one ZipMobile is working well enough to zip and unzip both the town-bound and westbound ZipperLanes as usual.
Times are approximate; graphic not shown to scale.
