Opinion ID: 2635221
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Testimony of Francis Nishioka

Text: As the DOT's head of the hyrdraulics design section, Francis Nishioka was charged with managing water runoff on the State's highway system, including standards compliance and drainage construction. He testified that, after three visits to the site and a review of all the relevant depositions and design plans, including pre-construction topographical maps, in his expert opinion the design of the highway met all criteria, including those pertaining to drainage, and was safe. He contested Krueper's expert opinion that custom and practice would have called for a drainage feature on the upper side of a superelevated highwayin the present matter, the east side of the roadby testifying that the topographical map he reviewed [10] indicated that water could not flow toward the road, [a]nd . . . since rainwater does not flow toward the road the cut-off ditch is not required. He furthered testified that, based on his reading of the pre-construction topographical map, water from the cut-bank directly fronting the highway would be very minimal and that the bulk of any water falling on the driveway would flow not onto the highway but would instead flow parallel to it into a gulch northward of the driveway. On cross-examination, however, Nishioka conceded that the actual topography of the site could have been altered by the construction process; Nishioka further conceded that, if Haymore had observed water coming off this cut bank flowing onto the roadway in this area and crossing the roadway, then there would be a dangerous condition. Nishioka contended that if the water originated from a private source, such as a greenhouse, then it would not be the DOT's responsibility to design for or address the problem; he admitted, however, that he was unaware of any investigation to determine the ultimate source of the water coming off of the cutbank and further testified that his department had not received any notification that water was crossing the highway until after Klink's accident. He was also unaware of any subsequent determination of the source of the water but confirmed that his department oversaw the installation of the interceptor ditch. He further conceded that the map upon which he was relying did not contain measurements of the slope of the roadway or the driveway and that, based on the measurements actually conducted by Krueper, rainwater either falling on the driveway or running parallel down the shoulder onto the driveway would eventually run onto the highway, at least at higher volumes of water.