Posts: 1,779
Threads: 73
Joined: Aug 2006
Agreed, Bob.
In the case of Highway 130, what is needed is an objective comparison of roundabout versus traffic signal versus stop sign at every intersection from Kahakai to Shower.
A roundabout will be better for some of those intersections and for some it will not, in terms of the first priority, safety; as well as traffic flow, construction cost, maintenance cost, and operating cost.
This comparison must be a basic decision tool for the community and DOT -- simply, a decision tree that says, "Does a roundabout work at this site?", "If yes, then build it; if no, then do not build and instead go to the next alternative..." -- stop sign or signal, and so forth.
James Weatherford, Ph.D.
15-1888 Hialoa
Hawaiian Paradise Park
Posts: 2,149
Threads: 90
Joined: Feb 2006
I support the installation of some roundabouts for the simple reason that we need to think outside the usual DOT box and so something to counter their long list of standard things that don't work. The problem is that the guys at the DOT really don't like listening to the public and really don't want to try anything new to them. I know this is true because I went to a community service fair in Pahoa where some guys in the DOT booth actually had a blueprint for a roundabout. Instead of discussing the possibilities afforded by the concept, they ridiculed it and said their boss made them go there with the diagram when they knew it would never work. One of them mumbled something about the oddball folks here in Puna who were pushing for roundabouts. Hmmmm, I wonder who they could have been talking about? Anyway, I told them to loosen up and try something different, and I could tell from their looks that I had instantly been consigned to the "oddball" category. Not such a bad place for me to be actually.
Cheers,
Jerry
Posts: 859
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Joined: May 2008
LOL... If so I am sure they were just jealous....
Transplanted Texan
"I am here to chew bubble gum and kick some *** ... and I'm all out of bubble gum"
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I do not believe that America is better than everybody else...
America "IS" everybody else.
The Wilder Side Of Hawaii
Posts: 2,149
Threads: 90
Joined: Feb 2006
Actually, I think I was wearing my Texas Longhorns t-shirt, so maybe that IS why they looked at me that way. It couldn't possibly have been my habit of challenging bureaucrats' habitual thinking, could it?
Cheers,
Jerry
Looks like we might be getting roundabouts.
Posts: 859
Threads: 10
Joined: May 2008
LOL... that will mess traffic up for a few years as people learn they can't go 70mph through them... [
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-----------------------------------------------------------
I do not believe that America is better than everybody else...
America "IS" everybody else.
-----------------------------------------------------------
I do not believe that America is better than everybody else...
America "IS" everybody else.
The Wilder Side Of Hawaii
Posts: 1,779
Threads: 73
Joined: Aug 2006
It is the behavior of the miscreants the may "mess traffic up" --it is not the roundabouts.
James Weatherford, Ph.D.
15-1888 Hialoa
Hawaiian Paradise Park
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