DRIVE TIME
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There was great fanfare last week when the state Transportation Department announced plans to extend the zipper lane on H-1 Freeway.
Gov. Linda Lingle was there. So were state and county lawmakers from Makakilo to Kalihi, all of whom wanted to get credit for what seems like a no-brainer — connecting the zipper lane to the Nimitz Highway contraflow lane, creating a continuous 15-mile priority lane for high-occupancy vehicles.
State Transportation Director Rod Haraga, a real go-getter who has changed the culture inside the DOT bureaucracy, deserves much of the credit for making this happen. His willingness to take on local opposition in creating the widely praised Nimitz contraflow lane now seems like an act of political courage. Even the Kalihi businesses that were most concerned that the contraflow lane would cost them money are singing its praises today.
But this wasn't a new idea. It has been around for years. Back then it was called BRT, something of a dirty word in local transportation circles now.
The original Bus Rapid Transit plan developed by city officials included a separate lane for high-occupancy vehicles — and buses are as high occupancy as they come — along the H-1 Freeway.
Allowing buses their own lane to move more freely was at the heart of the BRT. When it became clear that wasn't going to fly with a public hooked on their own cars and politicians who support them, BRT was doomed, even if it took a few more years and Mufi Hannemann to put it out of its misery.
The extended zipper lane is right there on dozens of BRT plans, right down to detailed drawings of how the city would add a zipper lane on-ramp from the Radford Drive area.
Ironic, isn't it, that the same state department that helped kill the BRT a couple of years ago by vowing never to give up any of its lanes to a city bus project is now reaping the rewards of forward thinking?
When the political winds started blowing against the BRT, state officials were among those most vocal in their opposition to it. So were many of the same local politicians who were playing to the cameras last week, lining up behind Lingle to say a few words about what a great idea the extended HOV lane is.
And it is. You just have to wonder why they now think it is a good idea for cars with two people or more but back then thought it was a very bad one for a bus with 40 or more.
Reach Mike Leidemann at 525-5460 or mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.
