The Piikoi Street on-ramp onto the H-1 freeway was reopened April 30, 2017. The state will assess if closing that on-ramp permanently would improve traffic on the H-1 in the area, but the DOT says will take some time before that decision would happen.

We started today from our parking garage near Ala Moana and Piikoi streets, that’s when the timer began.

Our end point?

The traffic light where the H-1 Freeway intersects Ainakoa Street. This route would take us to the Ward on-ramp.

One of our producers decided to try out the University on-ramp instead.

So away we went. We left the station around 5:30 p.m., for all intents and purposes the peak of rush hour traffic.

The first slow down we experienced was around the Blaisdell at Ward Avenue, but before too long we made it on the freeway.

After that, we ran into what tens of thousands of Oahu drivers are no doubt used to, the slow down leading to the Punahou off-ramp.

Of course after just a few minutes and a couple of lane changes we were free of the worst of the traffic and on our way east past Punahou at normal freeway speeds.

Our total time from Ala Moana to the Ainakoa light, just over 18 minutes.

So what about the other route to the University on-ramp?

Our producer messaged us with the results, and that route clocked in just over 18 minutes as well.