Web site, hot line set up for H-1 project

By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer

When work starts June 7 on the $55 million, 18-month widening of H-1 Freeway near Waimalu, motorists will have their own Web site to get up-to-date information about lane closures and construction schedules.

There also will be a 24-hour phone hot line to voice complaints and ask questions about dust, noise and other problems.

"And there will be a real live person answering the phone all the time to interact with the callers," state Transportation Director Rod Haraga said yesterday.

Haraga said the freeway work will be part of a major push this summer to begin solving congestion problems on roadways across O'ahu.

Other projects starting soon include a repaving of Moanalua Freeway, replacement of the metal platform of the Sand Island bridge and maintenance work along H-1 Freeway from Pearl City to Kaimuki.

"This is way overdue," he said.

The state is also planning a previously unannounced repaving of Nimitz Highway from Ahua to Waiakamilo streets this summer, but a long-planned roving patrol offering free service to stranded freeway motorists has been pushed back to 2005, Haraga said.

The work on the Waimalu widening project is designed to help alleviate a snarl of traffic that frequently stretches back to Moanalua Freeway, Haraga said.

"We're hoping to remove that bottleneck," he said.

Haraga also said it's unlikely that the state will increase highway speed limits, despite a private study this week that shows most people exceed the current limits.

"If we raise it to 65 (mph), then they'll just do 70 or 75," he said. "Where does it end? With our geography it doesn't make sense to increase the speed limits for the shorter distances we travel."

Reach Mike Leidemann at 525-5460 or mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.