Kapolei to Honolulu toll road?

[joshuatree]

Interesting, the state seems to want to decrease current capacity on the H1 and maybe Nimitz in exchange for a private build of a toll road. Would this conflict with the city's rail project? And is it right to give up existing road capacity paid for completely by taxpayers to a private consortium?

http://honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/p...WS09/701300338

[adrian]

Re: Kapolei to Honolulu toll road?

Not everyone lives in Kapolei. I haven't got a chance to read the article, but will this be an "exclusive" toll road going from Kapolei to Honolulu, or will it have feeder on-ramps that will get other people from other towns to pay?

[joshuatree]

Re: Kapolei to Honolulu toll road?

Not everyone lives in Kapolei. I haven't got a chance to read the article, but will this be an "exclusive" toll road going from Kapolei to Honolulu, or will it have feeder on-ramps that will get other people from other towns to pay?

At this point, I think it's too early to tell since they are just starting to look into it. But indeed, if it was "exclusive" to Kapolei, I think that's too big of a sacrifice to give up existing road capacity.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Kapolei to Honolulu toll road?

That would surely encourage riding the rail.

I think they ought to put a toll gate in Waikiki and take advantage of all the kids cruzin around and around and around every weekend night.

[GeckoGeek]

Re: Kapolei to Honolulu toll road?

I see this as admitting that rail isn't going to solve the problem.

The second problem I see here is that I doubt if the traffic problem is highway capacity - it's the ability to get the cars off the road at the destination. So the toll roads will do nothing but allow those who pay to cut in line.

Oh, and the thing that really kills traffic flow? Merging. So what happens at the end of the toll road? Duh.

[Miulang]

Re: Kapolei to Honolulu toll road?

I doubt anyone was suggesting that light rail would be the only solution to the traffic problem. It's going to take several different things (i.e., light rail, additional buses, toll roads, etc.) to truly redistribute enough traffic to make a difference.

From my own observations, reducing the traffic flow on H-1 to create a toll road won't do much to alleviate gridlock on the freeway, especially if the toll is rather high. Most people will choose alternatives to paying extra, so if there are neighborhoods where there are arterials running through them, those roads will become more congested as people try to figure out how to get from point A to point B without having to pay a toll and also avoiding gridlock on the freeway.

Miulang

[GeckoGeek]

Re: Kapolei to Honolulu toll road?

Something I need to add here is that sometimes building roads adds to congestion. It's been written up in papers, but I don't think the average public knows that. While most people focus on the freeways, I don't think that's the problem. The problem is the backlog from the destination. The worst part of traffic is at the merges. What would really help is to either close Moanalua Freeway or the H1 by the airport to through traffic. That way you don't have the Middle Street merge in the morning and the Stadium merge in the afternoon.

The HOV lanes do nothing to speed up traffic for everyone, they are social engineering ventures that allow people who car pool to run to the head of the line. Toll roads alongside existing roads and freeways are the wrong kind of "social engineering". The added lanes are no help at all. The just funnel more cars into the same already crowded destination.