Q. Why are helicopters — police, fire, Coast Guard, military — allowed to fly over the Pearlridge residential area at night? I find it very irritating and it wakes me up.

A. State Transportation Department spokesman Scott Ishikawa said helicopters on emergency missions for the Honolulu Fire Department, the Honolulu Police Department and the Coast Guard, as well as military helicopters, are not restricted as to what regions they can fly over.

For safety reasons, these aircraft must fly by "visual" rules and should not fly in cloud cover — particularly at night, Ishikawa said. So on cloudy nights, the pilots of these emergency aircraft will fly lower than usual, which may explain the noise, he said. By flying "visually," the pilots usually use landmarks such as H-1 Freeway to guide them to and from their destination and that may explain why some communities hear the helicopters more than others.

He said the state Airports Division does have a hot line to handle such matters. The toll-free number, (888) 697-7813, is answered by an operator who refers complaints to the respective agency.

Q. Another traffic question from the Leeward Coast: Once you get past the bad rush-hour traffic leaving Nanakuli in the morning, and inch out to the freeway, then the Kunia off-ramp, three lanes merge into two, which creates another bottleneck. Are there any state plans to ease that crunch?

A. Spokesman Ishikawa said the state is looking at where the three lanes merge into two near the Kunia/ Waipahu off-ramp. He said there is a project under discussion as part of the O'ahu Metropolitan Planning Organization's 2030 long-range plan to widen that stretch of roadway.

Ishikawa said the planning panel prioritizes highway improvement projects. So, if the project earns a place on that list, the state would then look at doing such a project.

Q. Is it legal for adults to ride bikes on sidewalks?

A. Yes, it's legal on O'ahu, with some exceptions, Honolulu police say. State and city laws generally call for bicycles to travel on roads, to move in the same direction as traffic and follow traffic laws that would apply to a car. But police said state and city laws generally prohibit riding a bicycle on sidewalks in business districts, though it is allowed in residential areas.

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