Some Mainland Ideas Wouldn’t ‘Flyover’ Here

The Judge Harry Pregerson interchange in Los Angeles

Honolulu rail continues to be among the community’s top ongoing news stories, with challengers rallying around a new lawsuit and supporters vowing to re-energize their efforts to meet that challenge with a coordinated response.

Rail’s opponents favor other approaches to improve mobility in the urban corridor that feature new highway construction in various forms – HOT roads, HOV lanes and flyovers.

An island has limited capacity to accommodate highways, and that's worth repeating whenever proposals surface for new ones. What works in Los Angeles, for example, likely would confront massive resistance on Oahu.

The above photo shows the Judge Harry Pregerson interchange for Interstates I-105 and I-110 that includes HOV lanes and HOV connector flyovers allowing vehicles to transition from each highway’s HOV lanes to the other’s HOV lanes.

It’s a classic “mega-interchange” and larger than what proponents want in Honolulu, but without question, any new HOV lanes and flyovers to connect them would have significant impacts on space here -- whether it's open or space already occupied by businesses and homes.