Gridlock grows in Kahalu'u
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward Bureau
KAHALU'U — Traffic snarls on Kahekili Highway that residents say have become worse than ever have sparked calls for street widening, a remedy quashed for decades because of fear of increased development in Windward O'ahu.
Advertiser library photo • Feb. 26, 2000
"Keeping the country country" has been a mantra to Windward residents worried about out-of-control growth, but those who favor highway widening say good planning is sufficient to limit growth, and something must be done to handle all the traffic on Kahekili, part of the main artery from the North Shore and upper Windward side of O'ahu.
City Councilman Steve Holmes opposes a widening of the highway.
In an effort to resolve the traffic problem, Sen. Bob Nakata, D-23 (Kane'ohe-La'ie) recently called for an ad hoc committee to suggest solutions. The Kahalu'u Neighborhood Board agreed April 11 to form the committee and involve residents.
At Nakata's invitation, the directors of the state Department of Transportation and the city Department of Transportation Services met with the community April 5 and discussed several options for dealing with Kahekili rush-hour traffic, including contra-flow, traffic circles and altering traffic signals, said Ken LeVasseur, a Kahalu'u board member.
"There's a suspicion that there has not been a sincere effort to alleviate traffic problems north of the Kahekili gulch," said LeVasseur, who opposes highway widening. "From a planning perspective, widening the highway directly corresponds with the pressure to develop at the end of that highway," he said.
In January, the state Department of Transportation proposed adding a right turn lane into East Hui Iwa. The DOT has studied the feasibility of placing a traffic circle at that intersection and plans to build a traffic circle at the intersection of Kamehameha and Kahekili.
But residents from Ahuimanu and Club View Garden want at least one extra lane from Haiku Road to West Hui Iwa and said they doubt that any new development would result from widening the road.
"We've built as far as it's going to be built," said Barbara Choy, who has lived in Kahalu'u for 20 years and opposes any new development. "There is no place to build any more. The rest of the property is zoned ag."
Kahekili was a two-lane road when Choy moved to Kahalu'u in the early 1980s and since then hundreds of new homes have been added to Ahuimanu, but Kahekili remains the same, Choy said. The road is narrow for a major around-the-island artery, causing safety issues as cars speed by, she said.
In addition to the traffic generated by the new homes and the opening of theaters in the Koolau Center, work under way to install a water main on Kahekili has traffic at its worst ever, she said. The project is now taking place in the shoulder of the road and will be completed next year. Now the water company is installing lines on Kamehameha Highway.
"We're not saying build a four-lane highway all the way to Kahalu'u," Choy said. "What we're saying is at least give us one or two lanes to Hui Iwa West."
City Councilman Steve Holmes said the threat of development is real and he opposes any highway widening. To ensure that, Holmes said he's inserted a stipulation in the O'ahu Metropolitan Planning Organization road planning process that bars road widening in Windward O'ahu..
Zoning designation also controls growth, but zoning designations can be changed, Holmes said; an agriculture designation is no guarantee that the property will remain in agriculture forever.
There will continue to be development pressure on the Windward side because it is a desirable place to live, Holmes said. "It will always take a lot of vigilance on the part of the community to express its desire to not increase density."
Rep. Charles Djou, R-47 (Ahuimanu, Kahaluu, Kane'ohe, He'eia) said development concerns are legitimate, but simple things like a right-hand lane at East Hui Iwa, better management of the lights and a left-turn signal at West Hui Iwa also would help.
However, throughout his district people are calling for traffic improvements generally and specifically for contra-flow, which would require adding a third lane to Kahekili, Djou said.
"In my district the minority are dead set against widening Kahekili at all," he said. "That minority pretty much dominate the Kahalu'u Neighborhood Board."
Djou said the traffic need is pressing and "contra-flow is one option we should seriously consider."
Nakata submitted a capital improvement request to the Legislature that calls for contra-flow on Kahekili.
As for the ad hoc committee, Nakata said he is concerned that people who live in Ahuimanu won't participate. He'd like it to be made up of neighborhood board members and residents.
Kahalu'u board member Richard Vermeesch said he and other board members representing Ahuimanu and Temple Valley oppose widening but would change his position if an overwhelming number of people wanted contra-flow and widening.
