Ward complex adds traffic lights
By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer
Two new traffic signals at crosswalks on heavily traveled Auahi Street in Kaka'ako should be operational by next week, officials said yesterday.
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
The traffic lights, midway between Ward Avenue and Kamakee Street, were rushed into operation after several serious pedestrian accidents and near-misses in the area, said Cheryl Soon, city director of transportation services.
Victoria Ward Ltd. has installed a traffic signal near its Ward entertainment complex, plus another down the street.
The lights became necessary after Victoria Ward Ltd. opened its new Ward Entertainment Center on one side of Auahi Street and a new parking lot on the other, dramatically increasing the number of pedestrians trying to cross in the middle of the block.
"We knew we just had to do something for the safety of our customers," said Chester Hughes, director of facilities services for Victoria Ward, which paid for the signals and their installation. The traffic signals cost several hundred thousand dollars, he said.
Because Victoria Ward bought and installed the signals, they were put in place in less than a year, Soon said. Normally, new traffic signals can take several years or more to be designed and financed through the city planning and budgeting process, she said.
"We knew we couldn't wait for that," Hughes said. "The city helped by fast-tracking all of our drawings and plans for approval."
Dozens of movie and restaurant customers every day ignored warning signs and climbed over pedestrian barriers to cross from the parking lot to the theaters, "even though there is a crosswalk at an intersection with another traffic light just 50 yards away," Hughes said.
In August, three family members from Japan — a man, his wife and daughter — were critically injured by a hit-and-run driver while crossing Auahi Street. In January, a 70-year-old man was critically injured by a car as he crossed in almost the same spot.
Although most of the problems occurred in front of the new entertainment complex, the city decided to include another signal near a crosswalk that links Ward Warehouse and the Ward Farmer's Market.
"That's been an area of concern for a long time, so we decided it would be a good time to put a light there, too," Soon said.
The lights, which will be synchronized with others on the block to slow traffic to less than 25 mph, will be up and running as soon officials finish painting crosswalk lines on the road, Hughes said.
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