Kapolei pedestrian safety examined
By James Gonser
Advertiser Leeward Bureau
KAPOLEI — Following the death of a Kapolei woman hit by a pickup truck while crossing Kamokila Boulevard to catch a bus last week, residents and city officials have renewed their efforts to improve pedestrian safety on the busy road.
Police say there are two problem areas for pedestrians in Kapolei — near the Kapolei Shopping Center and near the Zippy's Restaurant. Both have major bus stops that force riders to cross four lanes of traffic to make connections. The bus stops are mid-block, so riders find it quicker to cut across the street at both locations rather than walking back to the intersections to cross.
"As the second city grows and there is more and more activity, it is not country anymore," said city Department of Transportation Services Director Cheryl Soon. "It's a little bit coming of age, becoming a city, and part of that is more traffic, more pedestrians, more shopping centers.
"As people want to cross, we need to build into them to do it at the crosswalk. We can put up signs, reminders and signals all to do the safe thing, but at the end of the day it's human beings that are the pedestrians and drivers and they decide what to do."
Soon said bus drivers have already been instructed to remind passengers as they get off the bus to be sure to go to the crosswalk, and her department is looking into the possibility of installing a chainlink fence in the problem areas to prevent jaywalking.
Soon said the number of bus riders has grown with the population, from 43,000 people in 1990 to an estimated 74,000 today.
The Kapolei woman who died Sept. 18 was struck while crossing the road near Zippy's at about 7 p.m., police said. She was the 17th pedestrian fatality of the year on O'ahu compared with 14 at the same time last year, but the first killed along this one-mile stretch of road in Kapolei.
There have been many close calls, according to Makakilo/Kapolei/Honokai Hale Neighborhood Board member Martha Makaiwi, who brought up the jaywalking problem before the fatal accident.
"I almost hit a woman and her baby running across the street near the KFC," Makaiwi said. "People are late and in a big hurry. And the cars drive fast."
Police Lt. Frank Pugliese said the most dangerous area for pedestrians in the district is Farrington Highway between Kahe Point and Wai'anae, but Kapolei is starting to get more attention.
"It's a problem wherever you have bus stops," Pugliese said. "There are a lot of children and older people using the bus and they are the ones that get hit. They have tunnel vision: 'I've got to get the bus.' "
Pugliese said officers have been conducting enforcement efforts to stop jaywalking near the shopping center whenever time and money allow.
"Patrol officers are usually concentrating on other things," Pugliese said. "We probably could do more."
Soon said the city is planning a $1 million bus transit center on Nau Place between the Zippy's and 7-Eleven store which will allow riders to change buses at the same place without crossing the street. The center is scheduled to open late next year.
