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Howz About A New Road from Ewa to Town?

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  • Howz About A New Road from Ewa to Town?

    Everyone seems unhappy about our major bottleneck from Ewa side through Pearl City and Aiea on H-1. It's like the whole island must pass through the narrow isthmus between the Koolaus and Pearl Harbor.

    Then, whenever I look out over the harbor and see that bridge going over to Ford Island, I think to myself, "Why not make a bridge over or tunnel under Pearl Harbor?"

    Is the military afraid that will breach confidentiality and security in the Pearl Harbor area? Is it worth all the traffic congestion? Making a Pearl Harbor highway would surely ease a lot of traffic congestion, because the Ewa Plain including Kapolei is building up fast, and contrary to the so-called goal of "second city" there is still much back-and-forth commute between Ewa and town.

  • #2
    Re: Howz About A New Road from Ewa to Town?

    A new ROAD !! ARE YOU CRAZY !!??

    What about the bones?
    What about the environment?
    What about the view?
    What about the Red Tape? The EIS? The Public Hearings? The political wrangling?
    What about the Tier-Nipped Quadrophytes that inhabit the mud under Pearl Harbor?? Oh mercy !!

    There are so many great reasons to say NO to that idea. After all, cars are so evil. Just look at my hoopty.

    If you would quit your job, you wouldn't have to be in that miserable commute. And thereby alleviate the congestion. Then you could get govt assistance, and, if your lucky, end up sleeping on the beach, with all the other "heroes".

    <i made part of this up to stress a point....can you guess which part?>
    FutureNewsNetwork.com
    Energy answers are already here.

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    • #3
      Re: Howz About A New Road from Ewa to Town?

      Perhaps a toll road that is privately funded going under the Pearl Harbor area could be a possibility for residents of the leeward communities. Build it without taxpayer money, have the motorists pay a toll for use each way would in the long run help the new road pay for itself. Motorists who do not want to pay the toll could continue to use present, public roadways for free.
      I'm still here. Are you?

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      • #4
        Re: Howz About A New Road from Ewa to Town?

        I was shocked to read that rail transit systems across the country only average 3-5% of all commuters in that area
        in ridership.

        Even Manhatten, with a rail stop within 1/4 mile of any business or residence only gets 15% of commuters riding rail.

        Why our city leaders think we can do better than those figures shows how out of touch they are.

        Rail will not ease traffic congestion on Oahu. It has not eased traffic congestion in ANY U.S. city in which it was built.

        Commuters want OTHERS to use rail so they can glide into town.

        Even those who say they would ride will quickly realize that walking to the bus, waiting for it to arrive, stopping every block to the train station, waiting for the train, then zipping into town, boarding a second bus, stopping at every block until they arrive at their destination - will take LONGER than the gridlock they're now in.

        We definately need more roads. It's expensive, but better than throwing money away on rail transit.

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        • #5
          Re: Howz About A New Road from Ewa to Town?

          Originally posted by wala'au haole
          Then, whenever I look out over the harbor and see that bridge going over to Ford Island, I think to myself, "Why not make a bridge over or tunnel under Pearl Harbor?"
          From the Star-Bulletin last April:

          Officials add to traffic options
          Councilman Todd Apo first floated the Ford Island Causeway idea when he ran for the seat that represents Ewa, Kapolei and the Waianae Coast. Apo's proposal calls for the new highway to cross the Ewa plain and follow Iroquois Road to the west shores of Pearl Harbor. It would then continue across the harbor via a new bridge to Waipio Peninsula, where the road would continue to a second new bridge to Ford Island. Cars would then exit Ford Island via the causeway, which would likely need to be expanded, to Kamehameha Highway.
          It didn't seem like military concerns over security were an overriding reason to not proceed, insofar as the Navy seemed open to talk about it. That said, obviously a whole raft of complications would come with such a project.

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          • #6
            Re: Howz About A New Road from Ewa to Town?

            What happened to the ferry? Expand that to Ewa and bring people directly to downtown via that.
            How'd I get so white and nerdy?

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            • #7
              Re: Howz About A New Road from Ewa to Town?

              I think there were at least 2 attempts at running a ferry from Ewa. Both went belly up due to low ridership.

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              • #8
                Re: Howz About A New Road from Ewa to Town?

                Originally posted by Creative-1
                Even Manhatten, with a rail stop within 1/4 mile of any business or residence only gets 15% of commuters riding rail.
                Look at what happened when there was a transit strike in New York. It got so bad the cops ended up having to enforce rules requiring four to a cab.

                Transit systems not only carry riders but also greatly reduce much of the demand for downtown parking. Adding more roads and bridges might help improve the traffic flow to a small degree. Still, all those cars have to end up somewhere.

                The broader goal should be all about moving people, not vehicles.

                When I was working downtown I would have used rail transit. It would have saved more than $50 a month for parking, not to mention fuel and maintenance on my car.

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                • #9
                  Re: Howz About A New Road from Ewa to Town?

                  personally, i think that double-decking the freeway would be a more viable solution. it'll never happen, though, as people will fight it to the end. i'm more of a realist and i would support the idea. in fact, i'd even support a more radical idea:

                  double-deck ft weaver rd. and farrington hwy through waipahu and have them connect to each other. and if you are crazy enough to support that, then double-deck kam hwy through pearl city too and have it join the H-1 by Pearl harbor and you have a path to town that skips both the h1/h2 merge AND the middle street merge. sounds ugly, but that's the ugly situation that we live in.

                  this new freeway, which we will call H4, will have limited entrances and exits - one in waipahu, two on kam hwy, one at aloha stadium, and one at pearl harbor - before joining up with the H1. not only would this provide a faster route for drivers on the ewa plain to get to town, but it would also change traffic patterns and open up some of the backlog at the merges as well.

                  I know that it is a crazy idea that would not only have trouble gaining support, but would also cost a lot to implement. but, as being a resident of the ewa plain, i can only dream of a new way to get to town. luckily, i work in kapolei and i don't have to endure that daily commute to town every day, but everyone else in my household does and they are gone before i wake up and they return home after i've eaten dinner. i hope that one day it won't be so bad.

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                  • #10
                    Re: Howz About A New Road from Ewa to Town?

                    Originally posted by p0id0g
                    this new freeway, which we will call H4, will have limited entrances and exits - one in waipahu, two on kam hwy, one at aloha stadium, and one at pearl harbor - before joining up with the H1. not only would this provide a faster route for drivers on the ewa plain to get to town, but it would also change traffic patterns and open up some of the backlog at the merges as well.
                    Unfortunately there's a bottleneck to this: Downtown.

                    Think of it this way: Longs Drugs has a major sale. The store is wide open. People can come in any direction. But everyone ends up crammed in the aisles and at the checkout stand. The result: crowds and long lines.

                    It's the same with traffic. Add more roads, more routes, and you still end up with gridlock with all the cars converging in downtown Honolulu.

                    The transportation issue has to be focused on moving people. Not cars. Plus exploring the option of having people work elsewhere... at home or the infamous Second City.

                    The aviation industry tries to do the same with moving people: bigger airplanes that hold more passengers. Not more Cessnas. You can move 300 people and their luggage in a single 747. You'd need 40 Cessnas to move the same number of people and their luggage (a pilot plus three passengers, and a second Cessna just for their luggage).

                    Imagine the air traffic nightmare if you tried to replace all the heavies with light aircraft.

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                    • #11
                      Re: Howz About A New Road from Ewa to Town?

                      People said the same thing about the contra-flow lane on Nimitz hwy - that it wouldn't help because everyone is still going to the same place - but they were all WRONG. traffic on Nimitz in the morning is much better now than it was before the contra-flow lane was put in place. traffic underneath the freeway used to be backed up quite a bit - spanning several intersections. now, it is not nearly as hard to get onto nimitz from the airport area, and things move at a steady pace once you are on the road. was it a complete solution to the traffic problem? no. does it help? YES. people seem to not realize that getting cars off of the road faster also helps to ease traffic.

                      i don't agree with your thinking. this is why:

                      currently, everyone coming out of ewa has 2 options to get to town - freeway or farrington through waipahu. surface roads through farrington just takes too long for someone who really needs to get anywhere east of pearlridge, so that only leaves the freeway. there are 2 main groups - people who take 78 over red hill or stay on til the middle street merge, and people who take H1 over the airport to nimitz hwy. if you are going to UH manoa, it makes more sense to take the 78 and if you are going to kalihi/downtown it makes more sense to take the H1 to nimitz. these 2 groups of people all travel on the same freeway until Halawa. why not give the drivers in ewa an option of going straight to nimitz, where a lot of people in the area are headed anyways to get to pearl harbor, downtown, and waikiki. sure, there will be bottleneck - there always will be. but why not put the bottleneck as far east as possible, after all of the people travelling to the airport, hickam, pearl harbor, and everywhere in between have already gotten off of the freeway?

                      and, as for the "second city" concept. sure, it is a nice idea, but can anyone honestly say that it looks possible at this point? Honolulu Magazine's "Kapolei" issue included a map of the Ewa Plain master plan for the next 20 years. future projects included office buildings, shopping centers, and MORE HOMES. nowhere on the map did i see a second waikiki or anything close to that. talk all you want about a second city, but a large portion of the population out this way works in waikiki. can there be somewhere in west oahu that can provide similar jobs in similar numbers? not unless we legalize gambling and start opening casinos we can't (which i am also a fan of doing). moving the people is also hard to do, because many of us that do live in Ewa do so because it is (was) the only affordable area where we can live in decent surroundings.

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                      • #12
                        Re: Howz About A New Road from Ewa to Town?

                        The #1 impediment to mass transit, be it rail, bus, or whatever, is that it fails to address the concept of the "individual agenda". The #2 problem with mass transit is low-density living environments, like subdivisions.

                        After work, at 3:30, I must get the kids at A+, drop them at baseball practice, run to the store, drop food off at Mom's(she no mo drive), go to the daycare to get the baby, get back to the field to pick up the boys, home for dinner, then to church at 7:30 for choir practice.

                        It is impossible for mass transit to address the concept of "individual agenda". Many of the great thinkers of modern social science have written about this major problem, but it seems not to ring the deaf ears of utopian dreamers, wherein Disney's "People Mover" is the future.

                        The real solution is to condense living environments such that it is possible for people to live, work, shop, and play downstairs from where they sleep.
                        FutureNewsNetwork.com
                        Energy answers are already here.

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                        • #13
                          Re: Howz About A New Road from Ewa to Town?

                          Originally posted by Composite 2992
                          Think of it this way: Longs Drugs has a major sale. The store is wide open. People can come in any direction. But everyone ends up crammed in the aisles and at the checkout stand. The result: crowds and long lines.
                          Then expand Longs and make it Sam's club size!

                          Same principle. Expand the workforce to work to work in the other places: Kapolei, Waipahu, Pearl City, etc. The mayor is doing his part by commuting to Kapolei Hale atleast once a week to do business there, why can't we do the same?

                          Sure, we need to build another walmart, sam's club, compusa, etc in the leeward side, but look at the space between kapolei and ko'olina along the highway. I bet we can get rid of that desert atmosphere and make the second city truly the second city it was designed to be.

                          Or make staggered schedules. Not everyone need to commute to work between the hours of 6 and 8am. Shift everyone's work schedule by one or two hours and maybe overlap them a bit.
                          Last edited by adrian; March 7, 2006, 10:05 AM.
                          How'd I get so white and nerdy?

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                          • #14
                            Re: Howz About A New Road from Ewa to Town?

                            a new road between ewa and town? never gonna happen.
                            there is a proposal for ft. weaver road widening and beautification...blegh. gonna have new lights, new pants and trees, yay *sarcasm*. this is almost as bad as the retarded median that was built in Hawaii Kai.
                            www.raceeventshawaii.com

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                            • #15
                              Re: Howz About A New Road from Ewa to Town?

                              Originally posted by kilikopela
                              a new road between ewa and town? never gonna happen.
                              there is a proposal for ft. weaver road widening and beautification...blegh. gonna have new lights, new pants and trees, yay *sarcasm*. this is almost as bad as the retarded median that was built in Hawaii Kai.
                              'Bout time that bugger put pants on. How come never arrested for indecent exposure already?
                              http://www.linkmeister.com/wordpress/

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