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It doesn’t make traffic any easier, but map geeks should like this: the new Department of Transportation Lane Closure Public Access Map.
Right now it focuses on Oahu, and it’s embedded on the DOT site (hidot.hawaii.gov/highways/roadwork). Scheduled roadwork is mapped for each day, color-coded — red for full closures, blue when it’s just a lane or two. It may be easier to visualize commutes that way than by reading email notices.
Or not: DOT invites critiques in a survey (hidot.granicusideas.com).
We have low property taxes, but …
Statistics don’t lie, but they don’t always tell the whole truth. So when the personal finance site WalletHub lists Honolulu as the U.S. city with the lowest property tax, it omits that, unlike in other cities, it doesn’t cover the schools. There’s a state general excise tax for that.
It also doesn’t mention how high property values are, or other burdens. Another WalletHub study shows two Hawaii towns, Kahului and Ewa Beach, with among the highest ratios of mortgage debt to income. They’re EmptyWalletHubs.