Farrington Highway tethers Waianae to points east. It serves as the sole access route that links the growing Leeward community to Ewa, where crisscrossing roadways open up to motorists headed to Honolulu and elsewhere.
The Waianae Coast, which contends with near non-stop traffic backups, is in serious need of a secondary access route. No one disputes that. One concept study addressing the matter, conducted by the city, was published 15 years ago. The state Department of Transportation is now procuring a corridor study, which aims to produce recommendations on a second access route.
Rep. Cedric Gates (D, Waianae-Makaha-Makua), rightly asserts that for the sake of commuters — during peak travel hours, the 8-mile stretch between Makaha and Nanakuli cannot be traveled in fewer than 45 minutes — and other concerns, such as emergency vehicle access, construction of another thoroughfare can no longer be put on hold.
House Bill 1378 would appropriate funds for the DOT to develop plans for construction of the access road. It also aims to push the effort beyond the department’s planned corridor study by requiring route maps, implementation timelines and measures to avoid access disruption to Farrington Highway and other roadways while construction is underway.
The amount of funding needed is expected to be set when the bill reaches the Finance Committee, where it’s slated for a hearing Wednesday. Gates also intends to seek an amendment requiring DOT to come up with a plan and design by 2020.
The bill prods a long overdue step in the right direction. Over the last 16 years, as some lawmakers and residents clamored for a secondary access route, the traffic volume on the four-lane highway rapidly increased — to an average of 50,000 vehicles per day last year, from 20,000 vehicles per day in 2000.
Longtime Waianae resident Gail Gomes pointed out in written testimony that Band-Aid fixes are failing. For example, while a westbound contraflow lane is in place on weekday afternoons, “eastbound drivers are forced into one lane and traffic backs up for at least a mile if not more, taking a minimum of 45 minutes to an hour to leave the westside.” She said some teachers are no longer offering after-school tutoring and extra-curricular activities because of the clogged commute.
Another resident, Olivia M. Arana, said in submitted testimony: “When there are issues such as a car accident, a car stall, pedestrian accidents, flooding, broken traffic lights and road work, we become trapped on Farrington Highway. With only one way in and one way out” motorists can be “stranded in our cars for hours.” She added that a standstill can touch off a “domino effect in nearby Kapolei … with cars having to wait their turn to get into Nanakuli and beyond. It is pure ridiculousness.”
Residents should not have to endure such roadway gridlock. Even more alarming is testimony noting that during peak commute hours, emergency vehicles are forced to sit in traffic, too, while trying to get to the scene of an accident or transporting a patient to a trauma center after being stabilized at Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center.
Gates said he has found, when walking door-to-door in his district to speak with constituents, “This is the No. 1 priority for them and their ohana.” And that makes perfect sense as frustrating wait times in traffic means less time at home, less time with family.
Previously, a proposed alternate-route dubbed Mauka Highway — slated to wind through the Waianae Range to Kunia and cost $500 million to $750 million — was discarded as too pricey. Other ideas have included extending the current Waianae Coast Emergency Access Route, a series of public and private roads that reroutes traffic from Farrington Highway. Residents have pushed — to no avail — to open the route, which is locked and gated — reserved for use only during emergency situations. Gates quipped: “Our traffic is like an emergency” on a daily basis.
While the Transportation Department supports the intent of the bill, it said in written testimony: “We feel this bill is unnecessary,” due to the corridor study, which is estimated to take two years to complete. But given the long stall tied to this much-needed access roadway, a legislative nudge is needed.
