By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Staff Writer

Q. Why do they not leave the Kalaniana'ole Highway contraflow lane open longer when traffic remains heavy? Twice in the last month, there were town-bound accidents on Kalaniana'ole and H-1 Freeway in East Honolulu. Hawai'i Kai traffic was so bad, even side streets were backed up. Yet promptly at 8:30 a.m., workers were picking up the cones.

A. Kalaniana'ole Highway is a state road, but the city operates the contraflow lane there and on Kapi'olani Boulevard under an agreement with the state Department of Transportation.

When the Kalaniana'ole contraflow lane first went into operation, residents along the route voiced concern that the cones be picked up in a timely manner, DOT spokesman Scott Ishikawa said.

"Basically, the longer it takes to remove the cones, the more chance of disruption to traffic heading the other direction," he said. "It takes at least 30 to 45 minutes to remove the cones from the entire contraflow route, so work begins promptly at 8:30 a.m."

Keep in mind that motorists heading toward Hawai'i Kai are restricted from making left turns into residential streets along the contraflow route, Ishikawa said.

Q. I'm active-duty military and have served on at least 10 U.S. bases. Hawai'i is the only state so far that requires military personnel to convert their license plates to local plates, unless they display the plates from their legal state of residence. Most states understand that military personnel often move and allow us to display the plate of our choice. Swapping plates eventually costs us more to re-register our vehicles when we leave that state.

Can this be changed?

A. The Soldiers and Sailors' Relief Act prohibits states from taxing nonresident military personnel when they are assigned away from their permanent residence on military orders, said Dennis Kamimura, the administrator for the city Division of Motor Vehicles and Licensing.

"This exemption ... presumes that the military person is paying the appropriate taxes in their home state," Kamimura said. "Evidence of such payment is the registration of their vehicle in their home state, and they are allowed to operate their vehicle with their home state registration and license plates with an out-of-state permit. If the vehicle is not registered in their home state, they must observe Hawai'i's laws, which require registration of a vehicle within 12 months of arrival or expiration of the out-of-state license plates, whichever is first."

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