Question: I’ll be 84 years young in a few months and I need to renew my driver’s license. However, it’s a mess driving around Dillingham Boulevard, so I’ll probably want to go to Hawaii Kai. But I’ve lost track of the website where I can make a reservation to renew, and the list of places where I can do this.
Answer: Go to AlohaQ .org and click on “Driver Licensing and Satellite Services,” then click on “Make Appointment” to see which locations handle driver’s license renewals, which include the Kapalama Driver Licensing Center on Dillingham Boulevard and the Hawaii Kai Satellite City Hall on Keahole Street, as well as seven other sites. Click on your preferred location to make an appointment.
Eligible drivers age 80 and older may renew for two years at a time. There is no upper age limit for renewal.
Driver’s license renewal is offered at four of Oahu’s nine satellite city halls, as well as at five driver’s license centers. First-time issuance is not available at satellite city halls, only at the DLCs. For more information, see honolulu.gov/csd.
As for traffic on Dillingham Boulevard, the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation posts weekly updates about traffic disruptions caused by construction of Oahu’s rail-transit system. Go to honolulutransit.org and click on “Traffic Alerts” midway down the homepage.
Q: HART had said the third rail from Aloha Stadium to Middle Street would be energized June 17. That night there was an underground fire that knocked out electricity to thousands of customers in Chinatown/Downtown. Are the two linked in any way?
A: “There’s no evidence of any connection between the current downtown outage and HART energizing the third rail,” Hawaiian Electric spokesperson Darren Pai said in an email Wednesday.
HART issued a safety advisory Friday saying that the third rail for Skyline from the Aloha Stadium station to the Middle Street station would be energized starting on Monday and that testing would commence along this second segment of Oahu’s rail-transit system, which is expected to open for service in late 2025.
“Along the entire rail system, the energized third rail provides power to the trains and carries 750 volts of electricity. HART emphasizes that any contact with the third rail poses an immediate fatality risk. While the guideway and rail stations along the second segment may look complete, they remain active work zones, and access to secured rail facilities and the guideway is strictly prohibited,” the advisory said.
As for the power outage that began Monday night, HECO said in news releases that it was caused by a fire in a maintenance hole that burned “four underground circuits, comprised of a total of 12 underground high-voltage cables, in the area between the intersection of King and Bethel streets and King and Alakea streets.” The fire’s cause remained under investigation Wednesday, Pai said.
The outage affected about 3,000 Chinatown and Downtown customers, of which about 600 remained without power Wednesday; HECO restored electricity to the rest by Tuesday night.
Bridge delay
Work on the Makaha Bridge Replacement Project No. 3 and 3A didn’t finish by mid-June as expected because high tides and large surf prevented crews from completing slope wall work at Bridge No. 3, the state Department of Transportation said in a news release. The estimated completion date has been postponed until July.
All continued work will be daytime work with a single lane closure in the direction of the work, from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., the DOT said. Traffic in both directions is being maintained by alternating contraflow in the remaining open lane. Access to Makaha Beach Park, Keaau Beach Park, Makua Beach Park and Keawaula Beach/Yokohama Bay will be available, it said.
This project is replacing two old wooden bridges along Farrington Highway near Kili Drive with steel spans.
Mahalo
I know they are “just doing their jobs” but I believe the police officers directing traffic during all these power outages deserve a pat on the back. Especially this week, it’s been very hot and they kept traffic moving OK when signals were out Downtown. — Reader
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-500, Honolulu, HI 96813; call 808-529-4773; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
