Posted on: Friday, May 13, 2005

Commuters get double-dose of misery

By David Waite
Advertiser Staff Writer

Central and Leeward O'ahu commuters are still reeling from back-to-back doses of peak-hour traffic misery.

The latest episode came during the morning commute yesterday when a confluence of minor fender-benders resulted in the perfect storm of traffic congestion.

By 6:20 a.m., traffic on the H-2 Freeway was backed up well past the Ka Uka Boulevard off-ramp, while the backup on the town-bound lanes of H-1 extended back beyond the Kunia Road off-ramp.

Things got exponentially worse over the next 30 to 40 minutes, with H-2 traffic backing up past Kipapa Gulch and H-1 traffic for several miles beyond Kunia Road.

State Transportation Director Rod Haraga saw the storm developing and by 6:30 a.m., issued a special dispensation allowing cars with two or more people to use the zipper lane without fear of being ticketed. Use of the lane during early morning peak times is normally restricted to vehicles carrying three or more people.

But the congestion continued to build. By 7 a.m., Haraga issued a second proclamation, this time opening the zipper lane to any driver who cared to use it regardless of the number of people in the car.

About 20 minutes later, the inevitable happened: A four-car pile-up in the zipper lane essentially torpedoed the ever-fleeting hopes of thousands of commuters that they might actually get to work on time.

Travel time from Mililani to downtown Honolulu yesterday morning was 90 to 120 minutes, depending on what time you left.

Travel time from downtown to Mililani Wednesday afternoon was 150 to 180 minutes thanks to a snafu that began about 8 a.m. when an 'ewa-bound truck knocked about 50 links of the zipper barrier out of alignment.

The Wednesday afternoon traffic mess came just hours after the Honolulu City Council voted 7-2 to add half a percentage point to the excise tax on O'ahu to pay the city's share of building a $2.6 billion rail transit system. It was the first of three votes the council must take in favor of the tax increase if it is to become law.

Tens of thousands of O'ahu residents got word on radio news of the council's vote as they waited, with tempers and radiators boiling, stuck in gridlocked traffic on the H-1 Freeway trying to make their way home.

Reach David Waite at 525-7412 or at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com.