I’m a pretty calm guy. I really never used to get too upset when I’m driving. Until I moved to Iroquois Point, all the way at the end of Ewa Beach.
Fort Weaver Road would give a Saint Road Rage.
I live 16 miles from Wheeler Army Airfield, where I work. It takes me anywhere between 30 and 45 minutes to get to work in the morning (I leave my house around 6:30am). In the afternoon (I leave work at 4:30pm) it’s a good day if I make it home in 45 minutes … right around 1 hour is much more normal.
There’s a bottle neck at the top of the road, near the Hospital. It can sometimes take 15 or 20 minutes to travel about a mile, at the wrong time of day.
One thing that’s unique about driving on Ft. Weaver road (and Hawaii in general) is that you usually move faster through traffic if you stay as far to the Right as you can. This totally counterintuitive. The first week or so that I was driving home, I did what I thought was normal, and got in the far left lane … which increase my drive time by at least 10 minutes.
Now, as soon as I come over the Farrington Highway overpass, I get as far to the right as possible.
Over time, I’ve found a few good radio stations that keep me interested on the long drive home. This has helped a bit. And truth be told, I don’t really get mad at the other drivers. But …
I have absolutely no love for Gentry homes (who’ve built a couple thousand new houses in Ewa Beach over the past few years), and the politicians who approved all this building without first making sure we had the infrastructure to support it.
Oh well, I can this is just a little more of the price we pay for Living in Paradise.
Keep havin FuN!
Todd
That makes no sense! Why is the normal “hammer lane” the slow lane in Hawaii?
I work 31 miles from home and it take me a good 45 minutes to get there, but then again I drive straight through Evansville instead of taking the I-164 bypass.
Shawn’s last blog post..Evansville Area Surprised by Winter Weather
I have no idea why the left lane always seems to go slower here. There’s definitely an “art” to driving on Hawaii roads during rush hour. Knowing at what point to change from the right to left lane, and vise versa can easily shave up to 10 minutes off a trip.
I think I’ve only driven through Evansville once or Twice. I was stationed at Scott AFB IL (near St Louis) a couple of years ago. Most of my trips west took me north on 70 through Indy.
There’s no such thing as a “long trip” distance wise, here in Hawaii. But the flip side is, you can easily go weeks without ever breaking 60 mph.
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I bought a house in Ewa in 2005 after moving to Hawaii. I wish i had done my research. The widening of Fort Weaver will be fruitless with 900+ homes slated to go up by developer Haseko. I’m selling a home in softening market and it is a pain in the butt, but I’m moving out of Ewa.