Drive Time
New Pearl City street may be blessing and burden
By Scott Ishikawa
Advertiser Transportation Writer
Even longtime Pearl City residents may need a map to get around their community with the city expected to open up Kuala Street in the former Navy warehouse area in Manana this week.
Nicknamed "Spine Road" for its shape, Kuala Street runs through the Manana area and will create new ways to get around. Rod Haraga from KFC Engineering Management/Airports Inc., supervising the project said the $8.5 million, fl-mile-long road will allow another access to H-1 Freeway entry and exit ramps on Moanalua Road. It will also provide another way to the Pearl Highlands Center and the new Home Depot store scheduled to open next month along Kamehameha Highway.
But the road will probably create new spots of traffic congestion, particularly at the intersection of Kamehameha Highway and Acacia Road directly across the entrance of Home Depot. Leeward Community College, only a half-mile away, has its own traffic problems as well.
Since purchasing the 108-acre Navy property for $109 million in 1994, the city has redeveloped the area for its departments, which will also add more area traffic.
A bus depot there will house 156 buses that will leave in the morning and return at night. Also scheduled to open are facilities for the city Department of Transportation Services and Board of Water Supply. A park and youth center also are being built.
Q. The biggest concern among Manana residents are the 156 buses, particularly when they depart in the morning. Which way will they head out?
A. The majority of the buses will head south along Kuala Street to Acacia Road and Kamehameha Highway. When the buses reach the highway, most of them will turn right to not jam up the intersection.
A small number of buses will leave the Manana area heading north along Kuala Street.
The bus facility is expected to open in mid-September.
Q. How about the other facilities?
A. A park at the north end of the Manana area near the Moanalua Road entrance is expected to open in July or August, Haraga said, and a youth center next door will undergo a pre-final inspection this week.
Q. Any lane changes near the new Home Depot?
A. In the 'ewa-bound direction of Kamehameha Highway, there will be two left-turn lanes heading into Home Depot. Haraga said drivers coming off H-1 near Moanalua Road may want to head down Kuala Street and Acacia Road to reach Home Depot.
Q. With all the potential traffic gridlock, how is the city going to improve traffic flow?
A. Area City Council member Gary Okino put some design money in the city budget to design an extra mauka lane along Acacia Road where it intersects with Kamehameha.
"We were looking at a rear second access for the Pearl City post office so traffic doesn't have to enter that same intersection, but I don't think they have the funding for a road at this time," Okino said.
Okino said a Manana traffic study will also determine the traffic bottlenecks and the feasibility of opening up Cane Haul Road near the top of Manana to help with traffic.
Scott Ishikawa covers transportation issues. E-mail him at sishikawa@honoluluadvertiser.com.
