If one was to design a project for the Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT) that would reduce fuel costs, reduce air pollution, reduce travel times, reduce potential road rage and in every conceivable aspect improve West Hawaii well-being, with very little cost, what could it be?
Reworking the intersection of Lako Street and Kuikini (Belt Road) is such a candidate. The traffic controller is there, the traffic sensors are embedded in the streets and the need to reprogram the controller is clearly there. What’s missing is the HDOT’s will to reprogram. There is no logical reason that this intersection’s left turn signals cannot be simultaneous with opposing lanes as is the norm with other intersections. Further, were this implemented, as soon as the sensors determined there were no more Lako left-turning vehicles, the Kuikini through traffic would resume with no additional programmed delay. It would seem only fair for all drivers if the time to the intersection from Sunset would be equal to a wait for a Lako driver making a left turn. It isn’t even close now. If that doesn’t seem feasible, propose some other acceptable plan that cures the problem.
I’m certainly not a professional traffic engineer, but one look at the bottleneck at this intersection should tell HDOT something’s wrong. When northbound traffic on Kuakini is backed up to the Kamehameha III intersection, or on a good day, the Laaloa intersection, there is a problem. When in the Laaloa intersection area heading north, the most nearsighted driver can see the Lako fiasco unfolding in front of them.
It would seem the county should, without prodding, address the issue. After all, county employees including HPD personnel, are unproductively spending fuel and time sitting there as well as commuting citizens. There is a safety aspect as well. When long lines of traffic are stopped at an intersection, there’s no way cars can get out of the emergency vehicles path.
By not fixing the Lako issue, a segment of the driving public has opted to use Alii as it travels easier with less lost time. Is that really what the county and the people who live on Alii want? Hard to imagine that some ambitious council candidate wouldn’t want to garnner support of the commuting public by demanding a Lako fix. Perhaps a vote for the next council person should be predicated on a commitment to fixing Lako.
Pete Webber is a resident of Kailua-Kona.