Foster roundabout is 'major debacle'

Foster roundabout is 'major debacle'

The results are in, and they are not pretty. As predicted by its opponents last May, Foster Village's new roundabout is a disaster. Decreased emergency vehicle response times, accidents and ambulances, buses and street sweepers becoming stuck within its circle have been major debacles. Fire engines must creep slowly through it, and TheBus had to be rerouted to narrow side streets.

A light pole in the middle of the median crosswalk failed to meet ADA requirements, and planned landscaping was scrapped for a pile of rocks. Swaying palms have been replaced with a visual blight of signage. Meanwhile, DTS Director Ed Hirata's prediction that less traffic from nonresidents driving through the village to avoid traffic lights on Salt Lake Boulevard has not materialized.

A simple cost-efficient solution of two stop signs would have saved more than a quarter-million tax dollars and preserved the residents' right to speedy emergency responses. In the future, perhaps Mayor Hannemann will listen to the vast majority of a community's residents and its neighborhood board instead of to a tiny minority of complainers.


Janice Pechauer
Honolulu

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