News from the Honolulu Rail Transit Project

HART WEEKLY eNEWS

February 22, 2019

PALI CLOSURE SHOWS RAIL CAN HELP, EVEN THOSE NOT LIVING ALONG RAIL'S ROUTE

As we saw with this week's closure of the Pali Highway, it doesn't take much to upset the normal course of daily traffic on Oahu. One road closure can cause a traffic congestion nightmare!

HART CEO Robbins, "A 2% reduction in traffic is big."

The main traffic artery on Oahu is wit h out question, the H-1 Freeway. Every day, most Oahu drivers have to find their way to the H-1 (or cross it) before breaking off to their planned destinations. So you would think that stopping the traffic flow from a primary feeder to the H-1, like the Pali Highway, would ease traffic. As we saw this week, that


	AP / Honolulu Star-Advertiser

doesn't happen.

What does happen during a closure is a mad scramble to find the least painful alternate route. That, in turn, clogs most of the other routes and creates a slowdown both on the route itself, and at the point that route joins on to any of the major "east-west" highways that lead in and out of downtown Honolulu. Anytime you add capacity to highways and intersections that are already at max-capacity, the results are not good.

That's where Honolulu's rail system can help Oahu drivers - ALL Oahu drivers.


AP / Honolulu Star-Advertiser

During rush hours, when traffic feeds into any of the freeways, it does so into a highway that is already saturated. But what if we took 20,000 cars off that freeway? For veteran Oahu commuters, it's fairly easy to see that would be comparable to driving on the H-1 when, let's say, the University of Hawaii is not in session - still many cars on the freeway, but the traffic flows at a decent rate.

The Honolulu Rail Project will remove those 20,000 car trips, more than 40,000 in all per weekday. This lessens vehicle inundation and helps relieve the feeder street "choke-points." That makes for an easier commute from Central & East Oahu EVERY DAY, not to mention on days with unforeseen closures.

The 40,000 car trips eliminated by rail each weekday equates to about a 2% reduction in traffic. On the surface, that may not sound like much, but as we saw during the Pali closure, 2% can mean the difference between a 30-minute commute or a 2-hour commute.

HART UPDATES DOWNTOWN RESIDENTS AND BUSINESSES

The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation and contractor Nan, Inc. recently met with downtown residents and business owners as utility relocation work continues in the area. The meeting at Hawaii Pacific University at Aloha Tower, allowed HART and Nan, Inc. representatives to provide construction progress updates and share efforts to mitigate

any potential impacts to residents and businesses in the area.

HART East Area Construction Manager John Moore reported that several HART-imposed procedures are resulting in drastically reduced noise levels during the relocation work. In addition, Moore reiterated that lessons learned during construction work on the Ewa-end of the Project are being used along the Airport & City Center sections where contractors are currently within budget and ahead of schedule.

RAIL PROJECT REPRESENTED DURING "TOURISM DAY"

The HART Public Involvement Team was front and center at this year's "Tourism Day at the Capitol". In its fourth year, the event is organized by the Hawaii Lodging & Tourism Association (HLTA) and held on the departmental level of the State Capitol.

HLTA President & CEO Mufi Hannemann hosted the event

that drew dozens of local entities that are both directly and indirectly involved in the tourism industry. Tourism Day gives legislators the opportunity to meet and mix with those involved in tourism and its related businesses.

The HART Team set up an informational display to provide information and help educate attendees about the Rail Project and its positive impacts not only on our visitors, but for Oahu residents as well.

HART PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT IN KAPOLEI FOR DATE NIGHT

By Hana Grimmer

HART Public Involvement Intern

The HART Public Involvement Team joined hundreds of families recently, for a "Family Date Night" at Kapolei Commons. Families at the open-air event took part in games, enjoyed great food, crafts, and were treated to a screening of "Lady and The Tramp" under the stars.

The animated Disney film was preceded by a short introduction video to the Honolulu Rail Project with many in the Kapolei and West Oahu area overall looking forward to the opening of interim service late next year.

Throughout the event, hundreds stopped by the HART display to learn more about rail and receive construction progress updates.

TAKE STEPS TO AVOID INJURY, WHILE TAKING STEPS

According to the National Safety Council (NSC), people are rarely more vulnerable than when walking in urban areas, crossing busy streets and negotiating traffic. At HART, we frequently remind drivers to use extra care when driving near or through construction zones but for pedestrians, it's even more important to exercise caution. L osing focus on your surroundings, especially near construction zones, can put your safety - and the safety of others - at risk.

Here are a few tips from NSC for children and adults of all ages:

Look left, right and left again before crossing the street; looking left a second time is necessary because a car can cover a lot of distance in a short amount of time