Safety projects to improve Hawai'i's high-risk roads
| • | Some of the more dangerous stretches: | • | O'ahu |
| • | Maui | ||
| • | Big Island |
By Scott Ishikawa
Advertiser Staff Writer
The roadside memorials that dot Farrington Highway along the Leeward Coast are a reminder of the numerous traffic fatalities along the route.
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"Family members leave them after an accident, or to mark the anniversary of one," said Mark Suiso, whose 12-year-old nephew was killed in an accident near Nanakuli six years ago. "I think it gets the message through, if for a little while."
A makeshift memorial on the roadside at Ma'ili Point serves as testament to the safety hazards of Farrington Highway. Since 1990, there have been 76 traffic fatalities between Honokai Hale and Ka'ena Point .
Farrington is one of several roads across the state with a reputation for serious accidents. Government officials hesitate to label certain roads as "dangerous" for liability reasons, but residents across the state know which ones they are: Farrington, Kaukonahua Road, Honoapi'ilani Highway and Kea'au-Pahoa Road, among others.
The death toll keeps climbing, and with each fatality the question is renewed: Can something be done to make these spots safer?
The answer: yes and no.
Safety improvements are either under study or planned for each of these areas. Significant changes, such as creating safe passing zones along two-lane highways and straightening out the blind curves on Kaukonahua Road, would cost millions of dollars. If they come at all, those kind of improvements will take years. More immediate changes will be those that cost less, such as installing rumble strips and more traffic safety signs.
But ultimately, safety experts and the area residents say, the answer lies with drivers. That's because 95 percent of all accidents are linked to driver behavior, including speeding.
"You can put all these improvements in, I don't know how much of a difference it's going to make when you're dealing with bad drivers," said longtime North Shore resident Thomas Shirai, who has seen his share of accidents along Kaukonahua Road. "It's the individual that gives the road a bad reputation."
State highways administrator Glenn Yasui said motorists need to drive sensibly while using more caution in these areas.
"Certain roads are designed for certain speeds," Yasui said. "The physical limitations of the car won't allow you to hold a sharp turn at a high rate of speed, and going faster gives the driver less time to react to things."
Sobering statistics
The numbers speak for themselves:
- Farrington, from Honokai Hale to Ka'ena Point — 76 people killed in traffic accidents since 1990.
- Kaukonahua Road north of Wahiawa — 23 killed since 1994, including two this year in separate accidents.
- Maui's Honoapi'ilani Highway connecting Wailuku to Lahaina — seven traffic deaths last year.
- The Big Island's Kea'au-Pahoa Road — nine deaths along its 5.5 miles since 1998.
Disagreements delay solutions.
Along Farrington Highway, suggestions to place concrete median barriers to prevent head-on crashes have been blocked by residents who said the barriers would prevent left turns.
"For a number of reasons, there always seems to be something that holds things up," Suiso said. "We've been in the talking stage for a long time in making improvements out here."
There have been many suggestion on how to reduce the number of accidents along the city-owned Kaukonahua Road and adjacent roads north of Wahiawa. City Council member Rene Mansho floated an idea in 1997 to make Kaukonahua Road one-way to avoid head-on collisions, but critics said it would only encourage more speeding along the two-lane road.
A proposal to clear some of the ironwood trees from the roadside to widen the shoulders of Kaukonahua Road also has drawn opposition from area residents.
Less radical measures were approved when residents again called for improvements along Kaukonahua after three Mililani High School students were killed there last year. The city decided to pay for short-term improvements such as rumble strips that will alert
drivers when they are heading off the road or crossing the center line.
Major changes have been talked about, too. But significant safety improvements to lower the risk of crashes — widening roads, adding medians, realigning sharp turns and creating passing zones — can cost millions of dollars. And University of Hawai'i-Manoa urban and regional planning professor Karl Kim said engineering improvements such as straightening out sharp turns along Kaukonahua are not cure-all solutions to the accident problem.
"Sometimes (the installation of road) improvements that attempt to lessen the consequences of people's bad driving only encourages more bad driving, such as speeding," Kim said. "You need the three E's to make it all work: engineering, enforcement and education."
Besides, Honolulu Police Department Capt. Michael Thomas in Wahiawa noted that six of the seven fatalities on Kaukonahua last year were speed- and/or alcohol-related. Wahiawa police handed out nearly 4,000 speeding citations last year in the Kaukonahua area after the February accident.
Another reason for the high number of fatalities on roads in remote areas such as Kaukonahua, as well as the Saddle Road on the Big Island, is that accident victims may not be found in time to receive life-saving medical assistance.
Growth and traffic
Traffic experts say that the number of accidents usually increases in areas of expanding development. That means increased traffic clogging older, two-lane highways not meant to handle the higher volume.
Hawai'i County Mayor Harry Kim said one example is Kea'au-Pahoa Road. Kea'au grew by about 5,000 people between 1990 and 2000, an increase of 72 percent, to become a suburb outside Hilo.
"Now you have this country road that is now a major accessway into Hilo, the area's employment center," Kim said.
Lower Puna resident and former County Councilman Al Smith hopes that the ongoing construction to widen the road and add shoulders will help.
"Traffic is so congested (and) it's getting worse," said Smith, who said he has seen drivers illegally use the right-side shoulders to overtake traffic. "I think people are not being cautious enough. We just don't have enough police officers to enforce traffic in this area."
It's a similar problem on Maui, where traffic congestion along island highways was unheard of 10 years ago.
The more vehicles on the road, the higher probability of accidents, said Lt. Charles Hirata, who heads the Maui County Police Department's traffic section. Hirata said the risk gets even higher "when drivers get impatient, speed and try to overtake one another."
Hirata said Maui police in January cracked down on drivers exceeding Honoapi'ilani's 55 mph limit. Officers issued 120 speeding and seat belt citations in one day.
"As it gets more congested, the more we see some stupid behavior out there," said Hirata, who noted that drivers may also be distracted by scenic attractions.
To deal with heavy traffic on Maui's roads, state highways administrator Yasui said a feasibility study will look at ways to cut down on head-on collisions along Honoapi'ilani Highway. One idea is to create safe passing zones so drivers wouldn't have to cross into lanes of oncoming traffic. A study of this plan is to be done by late summer.
While there were no deaths last year on Maui's Mokulele Highway between Kahului and Kihei, the state plans to widen the road this fall from two to four lanes to deal with traffic congestion and head-on collisions.
Construction along the Big Island's Kea'au-Pahoa Road will widen the road shoulders and add more left-turn lanes.
On Farrington Highway on O'ahu, a $1.8 million state project this year will add temporary concrete medians in the Ma'ili area to separate traffic moving in opposite directions.
"Hopefully, it'll have the same effect in reducing head-ons as when they placed dividers near the curve at Kahe Point," said Wai'anae Coast Neighborhood Board chairwoman Cynthia Rezentes.
As for Kaukonahua Road, Honolulu Transportation Director Cheryl Soon said the entire stretch will become a no-passing zone in the fall. The city is still looking at the speed limit along Kaukonahua, which ranges from 35 to 45 mph, and considering whether to lower it by 10 mph.
The city has also appropriated $400,000 to add more speed limit signs and place "rumble strips" by the end of the year along portions of Kaukonahua where several fatal accidents have occurred.
Long-term improvements such as straightening out the sharp curves along Kaukonahua are still being discussed.
Thomas said Wahiawa police will step up traffic enforcement again along Kaukonahua because of the recent traffic fatalities there.
But Thomas believes that all of the traffic safety improvements will mean little if motorists don't drive smart and stay alert.
"It's not the road's obligation to watch you; it's the other way around," he said.
Reach Scott Ishikawa at sishikawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2429.
