Posted on: Friday, October 5, 2001

Tree-lined median planned for Kahala

By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Bureau

White shower trees and dark-leafed naio papa plants have been chosen for a median strip along arid Hunakai Street to add greenery to the community.

The trees will be planted on a new median strip that will narrow the street, which will slow traffic and enhance the community, residents say. The project, which will cost about $800,000, is part of the area's vision project first talked about three years ago, said Lucinda Pyles, a member of the vision team and the Wai'alae Kahala Neighborhood Board. Included in the plan is the relocation of sewer lines and plant irrigation.

The planted median strip will be from Pueo Street to Pahoa Street on Hunakai Street, she said. The four-lane road will be reduced to two 12-foot-wide lanes — wide enough for residents to back out of their driveways.

"There's enough money to get as big a tree as can be found," Pyles said. "Shower trees tend to grow quickly. They will make a pretty solid canopy of trees."

Doug Woo, city spokesman, said the city is poised to solicit bids on the project, probably in November. The addition of trees fits with Mayor Jeremy Harris' vision of greening up O'ahu, Woo said. In fact, so many mature trees have been added that there is a shortage, Pyles said.

The area by Kahala Mall will remain four lanes.

While there has been support in the community and at the City Council, which approved money for the project, there has been opposition, too. Some residents complained that they would have to go out of their way to get into their driveway because of the planted median strip.

The idea of the tree median was to match Hunakai Street with Kilauea Avenue on the other side of the mall. There, towering monkeypod trees and grass separate the lanes of traffic.

The Hunakai Street project was part of the community's vision to add greenery to the entrances and exits to Kahala. One phase of that plan has already been put in place by the state with landscaping under the freeway along Wai'alae Avenue.

"It will be a more attractive median," Pyles said. "It will transform the street to a cool, lush green neighborhood."