Patience and cooperation.
Those are the two things City officials are asking of Honolulu residents as the APEC summit gets underway.
Starting tomorrow morning, two heavily-used streets around the Hawaii Convention Center will be closed.
If you think traffic is bad now, wait until tomorrow.
"It’s going to take me even longer to get home and I work all the way out in Schofield," said Matt Coates, Waikiki resident.
Tomorrow through Friday during the daytime hours, drivers won’t be able to use Kapiolani Boulevard in front of the Convention Center.
That’s right, all lanes of Kapiolani Boulevard between Atkinson Drive and Kalakaua Avenue — closed tomorrow through Friday from about 6am to 7pm.
This is a major artery, and traffic will be majorly backed up, so avoid Kapiolani Boulevard this week, if you can.
"I think it’s crazy. They’re all going to be shut down. I didn’t really know that at first. It’s going to be hectic trying to get home," said Demetrick Frank, McCully resident.
In addition, all lanes of Atkinson Drive from Kapiolani Boulevard to Kona Street, in front of the Convention Center, will be closed to vehicles during the same days and hours.
"It’s important for all of us to be ambassadors of aloha by showing patience and cooperation," said Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle.
Tobaccos of Hawaii is on Atkinson Drive, and the store depends on its regular customers.
"We’re going to take it day by day. We’ve let a lot of our regular customers know ahead of time that it’s going to be difficult to access our shop. So some of them have stocked up," said Justin Ingrim, Tobaccos of Hawaii Manager.
Ojiya Restaurant is on Kapiolani Boulevard across of the Convention Center.
"Man nobody is here tonight. Is that because of APEC? Yes."
And they’re worried it’s going to be this way for the rest of the week.
"Regular customers cannot come," said Ken Yamate, Ojiya Restaurant Manager.
We noticed one business in the area that figured — why fight it?
The Eyeglass Shoppe on Atkinson Drive is closed until next Monday.
But the businesses that are staying open, like Blazin Steaks, are just crossing their fingers.they’ll get some of the convention’s foot traffic.
"So we’re hoping for the best," said Keoni Gaspar, Blazin Steaks Owner.
There are also lots of parking restrictions around the Convention Center because of APEC.
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
