HONOLULU -- Republican Gov.-elect Linda Lingle dropped a bombshell Thursday, saying she'll give serious consideration to double-decking a major portion of the H-1 Freeway. She said she'd consider charging motorists a toll to use it.

Lingle said she will give serious attention to building an elevated car pool freeway above the H-1 from West Oahu to the downtown area.

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"To allow the traffic gridlock to continue from that side of the island, I think, dooms the second city. And just takes people away from their families for hours every day," Lingle said.

She'd like the double-decked freeway to go one-way into town in the morning and one-way toward Kapolei in the afternoon.

There would be no off-ramps or on-ramps.

"Sort of a super zipper lane for high occupancy vehicles. Giving them their own roadway to get in and out of town," Lingle said.

Lingle doesn't know how much it would cost. However, state officials said Gov. Ben Cayetano's administration studied the idea five years ago; to double-deck the freeway from only Aloha Stadium to Middle Street.

They decided not to move ahead because that much shorter project would have cost between $300 million and $400 million.

Lingle said the state could charge a toll.

"We have seen this in California and other places where people who are willing to pay a dollar to get onto that highway in the morning and maybe a dollar to go back, is certainly a potential," Lingle said.

Lingle said the plan would improve people's lives in Kapolei, Ewa Beach, and Makakilo.

"They are spending so many hours on the road that they don't have time for their families. They don't get home in time to sit down and have dinner together, and to do homework. It's just too much time spent on the road," she said.