"It was not quite gridlock but it was backed up almost to the stadium on the inbound coming in from the Ewa direction," said Chief Donald Devaney, provost marshal at Tripler Army Medical Center. "On this island with all the military bases we have, any delay at any gate on any base impacts on all the traffic."
And that includes near the exits to Tripler Army Medical Center. They say the coming days should move faster as people get used to the new closer-check procedures for all vehicles coming on property.
"With cooperation and with experience — if we stay in this elevated status for awhile," said Chief Devaney, "we will be able to have minimal delays and that’s what our goal is."
Military and strategic experts say Hawaii isn’t likely a target but that elevated threat levels must be observed uniformly.
Abroad, however, it’s a different story — with authorities on guard about a threat of reprisals.
"It’s not going to happen today or tomorrow," said Ralph Cossa, Pacific Forum C.S.I.S, "they don’t have that kind of thing in place, but certainly some groups will feel greater justification, greater motivation."
And that includes in some Asia-Pacific areas with terrorist presence such as Indonesia and Malaysia
"If i’m an American walking around in Jakarta, I always feel a little nervous," said Cossa. "I might feel a tad bit more nervous."
But Muslims in America including those from Pakistan say the ultimate outcome will be a more secure and peaceful world.
"It’s good that it happened, Osama bin Laden was bad news," said Shabbir Cheema, of the East-West Center, "not only for the United States, but for the Muslim world as well. al Qaeda was already on the state of decline and this will be even a bigger blow to them."
Tripler’s marshal says if flow doesn’t improve by midweek they may ask the Honolulu Police Department traffic division to help monitor and facilitate helping traffic move more quickly through the lights and off the highway.
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
