Question: Roadwork has been ongoing on Kolowalu Street and East Manoa Road for a few weeks, but I have not been able to identify who is responsible or how long it will last. There have been a number of changing traffic patterns due to the work, but now they have been diverting makai/Ewa-bound traffic on Kolowalu onto Pamoa Road, which connects via Alaula Way to University Avenue. The project has helpfully banned parking on Pamoa Road during construction, but not on Alaula. Because of this, traffic on Alaula can become quite backed up. Would it be possible for them to also ban parking on Alaula?
Answer: As you’ve probably noticed, the roadwork has been winding down, and is scheduled to end this week.
As a requirement for building four senior care homes at 2649 Huapala St. in Manoa, Huapala Senior Care LLC was upgrading a portion of the existing city sewer line.
“Because this is a private construction job, no signs indicating the scope of the work are required,” said Art Challacombe, deputy director of the city Department of Planning and Permitting.
And because it is a private job, it would be up to the developer/contractor to determine whether parking should be restricted, he said.
But all this is moot now.
“The paving is done; the equipment is gone,” Malia Boyd, spokeswoman for Manoa Senior Care (Huapala is an affiliate), told us Friday. “The final sewer diversion is being done this Saturday.”
After that, all that remains is re-striping the roads, which is scheduled for Tuesday or Wednesday, she said.
Huapala had filed a lawsuit against the city in U.S. District Court in November to force the Department of Planning and Permitting to allow its four-home project to hook up to the city’s sewer lines.
All Boyd would say about the lawsuit was that it had been “settled” and the necessary permits for the sewer work had been issued.
Challacombe said a trenching permit and sewer connection permit were issued by his department. The trenching permit was issued April 30, and “apparently, the work began soon after.” However, the city Department of Transportation Services determined that work was being done without a street usage permit and issued a warning citation.
Huapala then applied for a street usage permit May 31 and received its first permit June 3, Challacombe said. No fines were levied.
Another street usage permit was issued July 21 and is good until Aug. 20. Among the general conditions of that permit is that “no parking” signs be posted a minimum of two hours prior to work, if there are plans to restrict parking. The signs must state the time and days/dates of the prohibition.
Question: I see some cars with side windows so severely tinted I cannot tell if there is anybody inside, much less whether they can see me walking in the crosswalk. Aren’t there safety laws for that. and if so, why isn’t the Honolulu Police Department getting these vehicles to undo that tinting?
Answer: As we’ve explained previously, state law allows relatively heavy tinting — requiring only 35 percent light transmittance from a vehicle’s windows — because the concern is more with heat within vehicles rather than with visibility.
If the tinting is goes beyond that, the violation is supposed to be caught during annual safety inspections.
That said, HPD began cracking down on violators 10 years ago. A 2005 Honolulu Star-Bulletin story reported police had cited about 9,000 violators since 2002, after HPD was issued light meters to check window tints. See is.gd/MjCxCK.
In 2005 the fine for a tinting violation increased to $287 from $97.
In 2011 HPD issued 785 citations, and last year, 1,073, according to Capt. Darren Izumo of the Traffic Division. Based on those numbers, he said it appears fewer people are installing the illegal tint compared with a decade ago.
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