On the the morning commute, people having to get to work near the convention center it was actually fairly smooth,
"I think a lot of people knew about it so there wasn’t that much traffic coming this way, so I could see that the traffic was flowing," said Tyrone Tahara, who works on Atkinson Drive.
But the backup to the sidestreets was another story, like here on Beretania.
"The traffic started bumper to bumper until about 9 to 10 to 11," said Mila Velasco, who works at Watanabe Bakery. "Everybody was kind of rushing."
Rushing, honking, even some yelling was heard at a car trying to park along the open lanes. This as commuters took side streets following officials’ guidance to avoid Kapiolani.
"When people try to get through the areas that are closed off, you start to get pushed into other areas so that impact is tremendous," said Charlie Nakaima, who lives in the area.
The city says many people followed the guidance but others went ahead and used Kapiolani anyway once congestion on H-1 and South Beretania got worse. They say that let to a severe bottleneck at Kalakaua, and it reverberated.
"The traffic is always terrible when they reroute down our road, I mean it’s a residential neighborhood that’s designed for lighter traffic," Nakaima said.
The city still urges traffic from east Oahu coming to town to use the H-1 Freeway, Waialae Avenue and South Beretania. They say leave earlier or wait out rush hour then come in, monitor news reports, or use public transportation.
"Tomorrow maybe they drive earlier, because they know already started monday, today and maybe tomorrow too," Velasco says.
Ala Moana Boulevard lane closures begin from Kakaako to Waikiki — the right lane in the eastbound direction will be closed from Ward Avenue to Kalakaua from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. nightly through Thursday morning. Only city buses and emergency vehicles will access the closed lane. They’re moving barriers and equipment into Waikiki for security and traffic control.
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
