Kane'ohe school pursues traffic light

By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward bureau

KANE'OHE — Near-misses have become commonplace at King Intermediate School, where seventh- and eighth-graders brave traffic on busy Kamehameha Highway every day without anyone to help them cross safely.

Traffic backs up as children from King Intermediate School cross Kamehameha Highway. Near-misses are a common occurrence because the Kane'ohe school cannot afford to hire police officers to assist students crossing the highway. Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser

With no help on the horizon, Macy and some students are taking the initiative to address the problem.

"We've had too many close calls, and we don't want someone hit or getting killed in order to have someone move on it," said Macy, who is new to the campus this year. "It's just crazy out there."

Macy, student body president Laine Higa and another student recently asked the Kane'ohe Neighborhood Board to support the school's request for a pedestrian-activated light at the main entrance to campus.

The board responded by adding the signal to its list of projects for the city Capital Improvement Program. The board is expected to support the project when it takes a vote this month, said Roy Yanagihara, board vice chairman.

Morning rush hour is the worst time at King, with 40 to 50 students at a time pouring off the city bus and into the street before it's safe to cross the road, Macy said. Cars often speed on this segment of Kamehameha Highway just outside Kane'ohe town.

Police officers hired at the beginning of the school year reported a near-miss every day, Macy said.

The officers were a good solution, he said, but the school ran out of money to pay them after about two weeks.

In the afternoon, the traffic isn't as heavy, but there are still problems.

Higa said he's seen a driver slam on his brakes to miss a boy in a crosswalk, but the problem isn't just drivers. Students aren't always alert.

"Some kids watch, some kids don't and part of the problem is caused by drivers," Higa said. "There's a lot of speeding."

A pedestrian-activated light would help both drivers and walkers, he said.

Other options were also suggested, such as better supervision at the crossings and an overpass, but Yanagihara said he didn't think an overpass would work.

"Overpasses are never used," he said. "People don't want to climb stairs to cross the highway. They'll jaywalk first."

Adding a traffic light requires community support, said Cheryl Soon, director of the city Department of Transportation Services. Such a project would cost about $100,000, Soon said.

After a student was seriously injured four years ago, Kane'ohe state representatives and the school principal asked the city for a light. But a study concluded that a signal wasn't warranted, Soon said.

Arthur Machado Jr., Kahalu'u Neighborhood Board member, said he wouldn't support a light there despite the safety problem.

Traffic is backed up daily, he said, and lights would make it worse. Machado said he prefers a police officer or a crossing guard.

"Traffic ran smoothly with the police officer there," Machado said. "That's the perfect solution."

Without the money to hire a police officer, Macy is pinning his hopes on the pedestrian-activated light.

But even if the school's proposal is accepted by the Kane'ohe board, the projects being recommended are for the 2002-2003 fiscal year, and King Intermediate won't get a signal for many months.

Reach Eloise Aguiar at 234-5266 or eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com.