Changes coming to Hawai'i Kai traffic
| • | Other changes |
By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Bureau
HAWAI'I KAI — A little more than a year after making changes to the busy intersection of Hawai'i Kai Drive and Lunalilo Home Road, the city will change things again.
This time, the city Department of Transportation Services hopes to make the intersection not only safer, but also more sensible.
A year ago, a left-turn-only lane was built and lane markings were added, but residents voiced concerns that those markings were not long enough and that motorists heading into Mariner's Cove were stuck blocking the through lane until the light ran its sequence.
The four-way intersection is busy — one of three identified by the community recently as cause for concern.
The city plans to make 10 improvements to the intersection, Cheryl Soon, department director, told members of the community and the Hawai'i Kai Neighborhood Board on Tuesday.
The biggest changes that motorists will see involve making the driving alternatives more visible, with more signs and more lane markings.
The major changes are:
• One lane rather than two heading mauka on Lunalilo Home Road, just past Hawai'i Kai Drive intersection.
The other lane on Lunalilo Home Road will become a median strip to separate traffic and to guide motorists heading mauka on Lunalilo Home Road.
• Allow left turns into Mariner's Cove from Lunalilo Home Road, either on an arrow or green light. Motorists now can only turn left on a green arrow.
"It's a dangerous intersection," said Delores Elms, a member of the Hawai'i Kai Neighborhood Board. " It definitely needed something. What was there wasn't enough. This is fine-tuning and tweaking what the city had done before."
The lane changes could begin as city road crews are able to schedule the work, Soon said.
Ultimately, the city plans to bury sensors in the pavement that will change the timing of lights as needed to eliminate traffic backups.
But to alter the light sequence, the city is required to make the curbs at the intersections accessible to disabled people — and that will take an additional nine months of engineering and $35,000, Soon said.
The Neighborhood Board unanimously supported the city's plan Tuesday night.
But board members expressed concern that beyond the lane changes, the city needs to consider moving the bus stops because they are too close to the intersections.
"I think changing the location of the light with the arrow and allowing left turns on the green is OK," said Tom Ishii, a Mariner's Cove resident and Neighborhood Board member. "From a safety standpoint, the changes seem OK.
"(But) the bus stops do block the view on the corners."
Soon said she would look into it.
The city also discussed its plans for three other problem areas that the community has expressed safety concerns about.
One is to install a left-turn storage lane on Lunalilo Home Road at Wailua Street as a way to help motorists make that left turn.
A left-turn arrow, however, was not warranted, Soon said.
And the developer of the Peninsula property will be installing a traffic light at the entrance to his housing development across from Kaiser High School, also on Lunalilo Home Road.
The other problem area, at the intersection of Hawai'i Kai Drive and Kamehamez Ridge, will require further study.
The city did not agree with residents who believe that a crosswalk or pedestrian-activated light would be necessary to protect people crossing Hawai'i Kai Drive after getting off the bus.
Other changes
• No-parking, towaway zone signs on the Koko Head side of Lunalilo Home Road, mauka of Hawai'i Kai Drive where it turns left into Lunalilo Home Road.
• Painting the curbs red at the official bus stop zones on the Koko Head side of Lunalilo Home Road, mauka of Hawai'i Kai Drive.
• Painting lane markings along the turn to guide motorists from Hawai'i Kai Drive turning left onto Lunalilo Home Road.
• Add pavement arrows to give more notice so motorists can select the proper lane before reaching the intersection.
• Change the lane markings before Kalanipu'u Street to provide three lanes in the mauka direction.
• Move the bus stop on the Koko Head side of Lunalilo Home Road mauka of Kalanipu'u Street, and paint the curb red.
• Extend parking restrictions on Lunalilo Home Road and Hawai'i Kai Drive.
• Put in speed limit signs.
