honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, June 1, 2005

EDITORIAL
Effective traffic center needs cooperation

A rare opportunity has emerged that could enable progress in fixing O'ahu's traffic mess, and in relatively short order, too.

It's the proposal for a $28 million traffic management center that would combine traffic-control elements of both city and state transportation agencies under one roof. While it's not a new idea, the forces that could make it happen finally seem aligned. It's now up to city and state officials to make it happen quickly.

O'ahu has a number of thoroughfares that switch back and forth between city and state jurisdictions with barely a bend in the road. Windward commuters, for example, travel along the city's Ku'ulei and Kailua roads, which transition into the state's Kalaniana'ole and Pali highways, and then back to the city's Bishop Street. Clearly there's room for streamlined coordination here.

The state has favored a more coordinated approach but ran into opposition from the Harris administration, which argued that meshing the two was a simple matter of connecting city and state monitors with fiber optics. Seems simple enough.

But just transmitting data isn't all that's involved. Coordination can happen more smoothly and efficiently under one roof.

Of course, the city should work to keep down costs involved, but even $28 million is a worthwhile investment if it tightens management of traffic problems.

And the proposed center site on Alapa'i Street also may be the ideal location for a larger transportation complex, should some form of fixed transit be developed.

Coordination may even bring cost savings, if the city and state can pool staffing resources and eliminate duplication.

The city and state have been working toward an agreement on how available staffing could best be deployed, and this discussion must be encouraged.

Everyone can agree on the need to improve safety and efficiency on roadways, regardless of which agency runs them.

While this kind of government cooperation has been rare on O'ahu, commuters can hope that the city and state can set aside jurisdictional boundaries and work together in finding traffic solutions.