Leeward Oahu drivers are getting some relief from the heavy traffic they face daily.
New on and off-ramps opened at the Kapolei Interchange Wednesday to ease the bottleneck.
A dedication was held for the completion of the first phase of the Kapolei Interchange. This part of the project was not a particularly long stretch of roadway, but residents are pretty excited.
"It’s a big deal for a lot of people in this area. We’ve been asking for this for the longest time and now little by little it’s coming to fruition," said Jack Legal Kapolei Neighborhood Board.
The new Wakea Street extension adds new on and off ramps to the H-1 Freeway in Kapolei Town, between the Makakilo and Campbell Industrial Park exits. People between those two exits usually wind up driving through Kapolei town along Kamokila Boulevard.
"It would save about 15 to 20 minutes just having this one because if you go through Kapolei town right now you’ll be jammed up you know," Legal says.
Residents say Kamokila Boulevard gets jammed up not just during rush hour, but all throughout the day and even at night.
"Even during the day there’s a lot of traffic going on because coming from Waianae going to Costco they have to go through Kapolei downtown to go to the main highway," Legal says.
This completes the first phase, but there are four phases planned for the whole Kapolei Interchange. In an effort to keep up with the growing population in the second city, more traffic relief is necessary. There are planned developments on the mauka side of the freeway so an overpass will be built to extend Wakea Street even more.
"That way people heading in the westbound direction can get off the freeway, come over that overpass and get into Kapolei town and just help open up the area for some of the future planned developments," said Department of Transportation spokesman Dan Meisenzahl.
Phase One was completed at a cost of nearly $19 million, most of it funded by the federal government.
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
