Roving patrols to tackle highway traffic problems
By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer
The state plans to start a $1 million freeway patrol next year designed to respond quickly to accidents, disabled vehicles and other problems that cause congestion.
The program, which will cover the H-1, H-2, H-3 and Moanalua freeways, will pay a contractor to provide the rapid response assistance. The service will be free to motorists.
The idea is to keep traffic backups to a minimum on the heavily traveled freeway corridors, said Glenn Yasui, administrator of the Department of Transportation's Highways Division. More than 220,000 vehicles use H-1 every day.
The service will include repairing flat tires, adding fuel to stranded cars and providing a ride or a tow off the freeway. The contractor also could help identify and remove abandoned vehicles, remove debris, fix traffic-control devices, and coordinate traffic response with police and other emergency response groups.
The program will not conflict with private roadside assistance programs such as those offered by the American Automobile Association, Yasui said.
"We're only interested in keeping the freeways clear," he said. "We'll get a car up and running or tow it as far as the nearest exit. Then you're on your own."
The contractor will be expected to develop, operate and maintain the program and provide all equipment, personnel and training. The roving patrols will be on duty seven days a week, 16 hours a day.
The program will go well beyond the current one, in which local tow truck operators are hired for standby duty along the Pali and Likelike highways during rush hours, Yasui said.
The contractor will be expected to use specially designed trucks that can handle all sorts of emergency duties, including laying out traffic cones to help steer traffic around an accident.
"We might even require the operators to have some minimum training in first aid so they can help injured motorists, if they're the first ones on the scene," Yasui said.
The two-year, federally financed pilot project would pay about $1 million a year for the service, tentatively scheduled to start in January. It forms part of a bigger transportation effort called incident management, in which highway planners seek new ways to reduce traffic congestion caused by slowdowns.
In Hawai'i that effort includes using high-tech communication methods to keep drivers informed of trouble spots and efforts by police to clear accident sites more rapidly.
The service is similar to a program begun years ago in California called the Freeway Service Patrol, which assists 600,000 motorists each year in 10 metropolitan areas.
Reach Mike Leidemann at mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5460.
