• Determine spending priorities • Reducing congestion at the Tunnel of Trees Determine spending priorities I have been following the debate on raising taxes to fund road repairs and bus routes. Wouldn’t it be better to assess how our dollars are collected/spent
• Determine spending priorities • Reducing congestion at the Tunnel of Trees
Determine spending priorities
I have been following the debate on raising taxes to fund road repairs and bus routes. Wouldn’t it be better to assess how our dollars are collected/spent and what our priorities are or should be. Is it really necessary to put planter boxes in the middle of the road? Why is it that the school buses do not have commercial license plates and neither do some of the tour bus companies?
Isn’t it time to have commercial companies pay their fair share?
JoAnne Georgi, Eleele
Reducing congestion at the Tunnel of Trees
On many mornings while driving on the highway from the west side into Lihue, there is a traffic bottleneck at the Tunnel of Trees (also mentioned in a Jan. 24 letter to TGI). This congestion might be worsened by the northbound drivers who are yielding to the southbound cars headed into the Tunnel of Trees. This situation is described by the Federal Highway Administration as follows:
“The mere act of one or more lead vehicles slowing creates a rippling effect; a shock wave that reverberates back to vehicles that are following. The problem begins to clear once past the incident, as vehicles begin to accelerate away, and maneuvering room downstream of the incident increases.”
While these yielding drivers may be allowing three or four cars in, they might also be slowing down dozens of cars behind them. By sharing this phenomena with as many Westside drivers as possible, we should be able to reduce some of the congestion in the morning without widening the roads or adding traffic signals. Be courteous to all the drivers behind you!
Valerie Lee, Omao
