Kaimuki street project to begin
By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Bureau
Work will start block-by-block tomorrow on a $1.9 million city traffic-calming project along parts of Wai'alae Avenue in the commercial district of Kaimuki.
The project, more than three years in the making, is intended to make the avenue more pedestrian-friendly. It will widen sidewalks, add shade trees and landscaping and shorten crosswalks along a two-block area between 11th Avenue and Koko Head Avenue.
Access to stores will be maintained even though the work involves replacing and widening the sidewalks, said Cheryl Soon, city Department of Transportation Services director.
The project will begin on the mauka side of Wai'alae Avenue at Sierra Drive and move up to Koko Head, Soon said. The mauka side should be completed by December. Work will begin in January on the makai side of the street.
"There will be moments when we divert people away from sidewalks, so everyone will move safely," Soon said. "We'll do our very best to minimize the impact to the businesses."
Bright orange cones will eliminate the parking lane while the work is being done, she said.
Though the start of construction is pending, some merchants along the avenue said last week that they had not been given specifics.
"They haven't told me how it will be, what lanes they're going to block, or the full story," said Liz Schwartz, owner of Coffee Talk restaurant on the corner of Wai'alae and 12th avenues. "There have been no details."
The master plan was first presented to the community three years ago, through nine public meetings. The first phase, expected to last six months, calls for burying overhead utility lines and widening sidewalks to 10 feet on each side of the street, allowing businesses to put up awnings on their storefronts.
"We have waited so long for this," said Leonard Tam, a Kaimuki Neighborhood Board member. "It was supposed to start in January, and now it's September."
The idea behind the improvements is to beautify Kaimuki. Only some of the overhead electrical lines will be placed underground, Tam said.
To wait for all of them would require another three years of planning and study, he said, and to delay the project that long might jeopardize the project forever.
Electrical lines on the mauka side of the street will not be placed underground, Soon said.
Shoppers and motorists will have to weave through the sea of orange cones during the project, but the end result will be worthwhile, said City Councilman Duke Bainum.
"It's very exciting and gratifying after all these years of planning and soliciting input to finally get started," Bainum said.
But some merchants remain skeptical, arguing that the city would be better off putting money into more parking lots then making the area more pedestrian-friendly.
Some business owners circulated a petition opposing the traffic-calming plan this summer, collecting more than 1,000 signatures.
"My business would do just fine with the way the area is now," Schwartz said. "It's an old neighborhood. It's very charming the way it is. My hope is my customers will continue to come and find me, no matter what obstacles they will find."
