Troubles on the Road

Troubles on the Road

By: Jarrin Baradi

Hawaii is a paradise for all those who live in the state, and those that are visiting to enjoy what it offers. The upside of Hawaii is scenery, culture, and more, however there are downsides as well. One of the main problems that many citizens face or try to deal with is traffic. Traffic happens across the country, but it mostly affects more populous or urbanized states. Research shows that Hawaii is ranked one of the top states in having the worst traffic. Others think it’s due to rush hour, which only happens in mornings and afternoons. Some assume it’s due to many traffic accidents involving drivers breaking the laws, for example drunk driving, texting while driving, and other common rules that many drivers break while on the road. Yet other citizens blame it on the government in not attempting to at least make traffic be more at ease. That’s why Ke Ali’i asked a few people to get their perspective about traffic issues in Hawaii, and any ideas in an attempt to make it better for everyone. As local communities could attempt to help make traffic in their communities better too then just the government themselves. So I asked a few local people about their views and suggestions about traffic in Hawaii. One of the people I asked is Duke Aiona, and Mr. Trauger. Both of them gave out their views on traffic with their opinions, experiences, and how we as the community could help make it better.

There’s many different views about how we as a state deal with traffic. Not just the government themselves in an attempt to fix traffic, but we as the citizens. As citizens can help with traffic too with different ideas to suggest. Which is why I asked one of our local people, Duke Aiona! This isn’t the Mr Aiona we’re all familiar with in school, as this is Mr. Aiona’s dad. Duke Aiona was one of the candidates for state governor last year, and a former lieutenant governor. Ke Ali’i was lucky enough to ask a few questions about his views on traffic. The first question I asked of Mr. Aiona is, “How would you compare traffic both in the morning, and afternoon?”. He answered, “There’s a big difference between areas around the H-1 corridor from Kapolei to Downtown Honolulu, morning traffic has a shiver intensity compared to how people drive in the afternoon. Normally, from Makakilo to the H-2 junction where the roads start opening up”. 

Duke pointed out another city saying, “The Zipper Lane makes a big difference as a result of that, you can tell the difference because there’s no Zipper Lane, the only lane that’s provided is the carpool lane. Though the carpool lanes are available for both morning, and afternoon. Traffic is enhanced when only the Zipper Lane is open. Which I noticed with my personal experiences in traffic”. 

The second question Ke Ali’i asked was, “Would you say that tourists would be another problem in causing traffic?”. Duke responded, “It’s very noticeable on the Northshore, and if you drove around the weekend from about 10 - 4 o’clock due to tourist traffic. Where tourists don’t affect both morning and afternoon traffic in the corridor I’m talking about is from Kapolei to Downtown, Downtown to Waianae Coast. The Windward side with H-3 traffic is very bad or congested in some way”. Last question I asked, “We as the community could try to make traffic be more at ease then just the government themselves?”. Duke agreed with the question and said, “It’s the matter of routine or convenience in everyone’s daily lives. Employers can be a big help in regards to working at home, working to start or finish later. Especially with Covid where people started working from home, but when we slowly went back to normal many people realized it’s easier to work from home”. 

Which research does show in UH News, it’s said that the pandemic caused a reduction in traffic, but not a very effective one. Mr. Aiona's next reasoning about my question was that he said, “The biggest factor in causes of traffic would have to be school. When UH Manoa is not in session traffic is manageable where traffic in the afternoon isn’t very affected, but it does affect more in the morning. Which overall school schedules does make an impact in causing traffic.” Our daily lives can cause a change in traffic. It does give a whole big view for us in the community both for the young and old generation on how we can improve to make it better.

After interviewing with our local residents,  I decided to ask another local resident about their thoughts. The difference between this second interviewee I asked is that he just moved here on the islands from the Mainland. That local resident is Mr Trauger, the physics teacher for our school’s science department. I got permission to ask him a few questions, and his experiences with how he deals with traffic. When I asked him about the comparison between morning traffic and afternoon traffic, Mr. Trauger replied, “I think that afternoon traffic is not significantly worse, but is definitely noticeably worse”. One of the cities mentioned to have one of the worst traffic congestions is around Waikiki, Pearl City, and Honolulu. The second question I asked was how we the community can help better traffic to be more at ease. He answered, “they set up traffic cones to help reorganize to show which few lanes are available, and the additional lanes can help with heavy traffic. So that less drivers are away from it”. The last question I asked him was if construction on the road could be another cause towards traffic congestion. Mr. Trauger replied, “I do see a lot of construction getting away and closing off a bunch of lanes. Usually they prohibit turning from a certain intersection. Along with some of the streets like Kapiolani they prohibit you from turning left even if there’s no construction on the road. Though my guess would be that yes construction would be an issue, but I don’t think it’s the main issue”. Seeing a different view from someone who just came to the islands helps us as a community to help fix what we can do to make our home feel more at ease.

As a result of traffic there’s different ways to try to fix it. Ways that’s coming from the government, or from us as the community. Different ideas and perspectives can help make traffic be more at ease. There are many changes we can make, whether we can make a change in our daily lives, the government makes an attempt to adjust some changes on the road, or many more!