By Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

Q. I live on Ho'omalu Street between Ho'okanike and Komo Mai streets in Pearl City. The speed limit is 25 mph. But because it is the straightest street in Pearl City, drivers tend to drive at 50 and 60 mph like they are still on H-1 Freeway. How can residents get a traffic calming safety measure installed before someone gets killed?

A. The City Council last year passed a resolution putting all new traffic calming measures on hold for two years. The only devices to be installed before then are those that were planned before the moratorium went into effect.

The city is still trying to combat speeding. Cheryl Soon, director of the Department of Transportation Services, said "presently, the city prefers to control speeding through proper signing and enforcement by the Honolulu Police Department. In view of this, the Department of Transportation Services will check the area for appropriate speed limit signage and forward the speeding concern on Ho'omalu Street to the HPD for whatever action deemed necessary."

Q. On Jan. 19 at 11:15 a.m., it took 13 minutes to get from the intersection of Pi'ikoi and King streets to the Vineyard Boulevard onramp to the H-1 Freeway. It takes about 20 to 25 minutes to travel this same one-mile route at 4 p.m. This is an unacceptable situation as tens of thousands of vehicles travel this route daily.

The city acknowledged several years ago that reversing the one-way directions on Pi'ikoi and Pensacola streets was the solution to this nightmare, but said it would cost a million dollars to do so and that the city couldn't afford it.

Now the city wants to spend $19 million to improve Kuhio Avenue. How does the city justify these projects while neglecting the access problem to the Vineyard onramp?

A. City spokeswoman Carol Costa said she believed the day you are referring to was the Martin Luther King holiday when the city was repaving Beretania. The roadwork caused considerable backups in town, she said.

In general, she said, "It is true that all the mauka-makai lateral streets, including and especially those leading to freeway on ramps, are very congested in the afternoon peak period. During this time we give signal timing preference to the longer length 'ewa-diamondhead streets."

She said the state and city are working together toward the reversal of Pi'ikoi and Pensacola streets, but while there are advantages, she warned, "it is not a panacea."

Do you ever get frustrated or confused trying to navigate the various layers of government? Are you looking for an answer to a simple question but can't figure out where to start? If you have a question or a problem and need help getting to the right person, you can reach The Bureaucracy Buster one of three ways:

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• Phone: 535-2454 and leave a message.

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