Traffic light on 130

[bystander]

I'm surprised no one posted about this yet. They are putting a light at Shower and making the shoulder lane open all the time. It's funny how the DOT just springs these things on us. Did anyone know about this? I saw them moving equipment on the highway the last few days.

http://hawaiitribune-herald.com/news/loc...ffic-light

[reni]

bystander writes..."They are putting a light at Shower and making the shoulder lane open all the time. "

Boy, I sure hope your interpretation of the story in the Herald is correct!!!

This is what was printed.. "The shoulder LANE on the makai side of the roadway, which currently is used only during commuting hours, will become a permanent shoulder,"
(No mention of LANE)
" A shoulder LANE also will be added to the mauka side of Highway 130 at the intersection, but drivers will have to merge back onto the main roadway after passing through the signal."

So will it be a permanent shoulder...or a permanent shoulder LANE open to traffic?

[bystander]

You should ask the engineer that made the statement what he means. Sounds like he means the lane that is open during commuting hours will be open all the time but that's not exactly what he said.

[TomK]

Who knows what the engineer really said? It's gone through the HTH universal translator.

[My 2 cents]

"The shoulder LANE on the makai side of the roadway, which currently is used only during commuting hours, will become a permanent shoulder,"

This is definitely open to interpretation. My interpretation is that the person who wrote this doesn't know the difference between mauka and makai.

[lavalava]

Probably never been to Puna either....

[bystander]

After reading the article over again, I think he means the short section of shoulder lane on the makai side after Shower going towards Keaau. So sorry I think my original interpretation was wrong.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Here's an excerpt from a previous thread concerning this section of Hwy 130:

The Honolulu daily has an article today on the DOT's plan to possibly restripe Highway 130 into four narrow lanes in lieu of completing the full widening project. The article is paid content, so I will not cut and paste much. Here is the link:

http://www.staradvertiser.com/hawaii-new...ghway-130/

I will, however, post two salient snips from the article. First:

"In the meantime, Sniffen said, the department will “re-look at re-striping that whole route to add in a fourth lane so we can have continuously two lanes in each direction full time. So that’s what we’re looking at right now.”

The idea is to create four 11-foot lanes with two 5-foot shoulders in each direction to increase the capacity, Sniffen said.

http://punaweb.org/Forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=22751

"One may pretend knowledge of philosophy more successfully than that of arithmetic." -Last Aphorisms (or how about, one may pretend knowledge with an opinion more successfully than with facts)

[kalakoa]

Who knows what the engineer really said?

For whatever reason, it's incredibly rare for our local papers to publish any kind of picture or drawing or map of the work -- obviously "everyone" knows "where that is". Except tourists. And new transplants. And the navigation-impaired.

four 11-foot lanes with two 5-foot shoulders

I really hope that's 5-foot paved shoulder with another 5-foot of smooth grass, so there's enough room to get all the way out of the lane....

[DTisme]

Bummer -can't read the star advertiser link without a subscription. Bottom line I guess is that they're going to try to restripe rather than widen. At least they recognize that the SB commute-time-only lane is stupid.

I have a feeling that My2 cents is right about makai and mauka mixup.

Edit: Also, a light at Shower?? Of all the HPP entrances, that seems to be LEAST used.