Girl struck crossing Farrington
By Scott Ishikawa
Advertiser Staff Writer
HONOKAI HALE — A teenage girl was seriously injured yesterday while crossing Farrington Highway at a spot where plans to install a traffic light and walk signal are several months behind schedule.
Honokai Hale residents, who have called the area an accident waiting to happen, are up in arms.
The girl, believed to be 15, was in a crosswalk at Farrington Highway and Waiomea Street on the western side of Honokai Hale at 7:03 a.m. when she was hit by a car heading toward Wai'anae. Area residents say the girl was crossing the highway to catch a bus to Nanakuli High School.
The girl suffered multiple fractures and was flown to The Queen's Medical Center in serious condition. Officials at Queen's would not release updates on her condition yesterday because she is a minor.
State Department of Transportation officials now estimate the signals at that intersection will be operational in mid-September.
Neighborhood board member and Honokai Hale resident Jane Ross said two traffic signal poles were installed several months ago, but never activated.
"We've been trying to get a traffic signal up for years," Ross said. "No one has given us a straight answer on what's taking so long. We're fortunate the girl didn't get killed."
The $2 million project to install a traffic signal and highway median began in April 2001, and was supposed to take eight months.
But The Advertiser discovered in a report last month that the project contractor had to tear up a concrete foundation and median that had been laid months earlier because the work did not meet highway standards.
DOT officials said one of the traffic lights could not be installed on the median wall until the concrete work was redone.
State Sen. Colleen Hanabusa, D-21st (Kalaeloa, Makaha), said residents are sick and tired of the delays.
"First they told us the delay was because the city were the ones to activate the traffic signal," she said. "Now they're saying the median didn't meet highway specs. These guys keep giving us excuse after excuse."
Wai'anae police called that stretch of Farrington Highway dangerous because west-bound drivers are coming off H-1 Freeway at high speeds.
"So if there is a green light at the previous intersection (of Farrington Highway and La'aloa Street), cars aren't slowing down when they reach Waiomea," said police Sgt. Randolph Tandal of the Wai'anae station.
Pedestrians also have to worry about east-bound drivers accelerating to climb an incline just before the crosswalk, Hanabusa said.
"Everything that could possibly go wrong with this traffic light project has gone wrong," she said.
Reach Scott Ishikawa at sishikawa@honoluluadvertiser.com.
