Safety work planned for roads

By Scott Ishikawa
Advertiser Staff Writer

Two O'ahu roads that have been the scene of more than 100 traffic deaths since 1990 — Farrington Highway along the Leeward Coast and Kaukonahua Road north of Wahiawa — will soon be getting safety improvements.

A $5.8 million state project scheduled for April will add temporary concrete medians along Farrington Highway in the Ma'ili area to separate traffic heading in opposite directions. Other improvements include repaving parts of the highway and widening the paved road shoulders, said state highways administrator Glenn Yasui.

The city's Kaukonahua Road project, scheduled for early next year, will add dotted "rumble strips" to alert drivers when they drift out of their lane, and install warning signs along the sharp turn areas, according to city transportation director Cheryl Soon. Work on the $290,000 project should be completed in April or May.

The numbers bear out their reputation as dangerous. Farrington Highway from Honokai Hale to Makaha has had 78 traffic fatalities since 1990, and curvy Kaukonahua Road between Wahiawa and Waialua has had 23 since 1994.

Construction for the Farrington Highway project should begin in April and run until June 2004. DOT officials met with Leeward residents last week to discuss project details.

Median barriers will be placed along a mile stretch of Farrington Highway between Hakimo Road and Kaukama Road, said Yasui, who describes the section of highway as "a flat, gradual curve" in which drivers sometimes don't notice they are drifting across the center line.

"Right now a solid double yellow line is the only thing separating traffic going in opposite directions," he said. "The median barriers are temporary while we look at more long-term safety options for the area. Some residents are suggesting we widen the road toward the shoreline, but there are already environmental restrictions against that."

As part of the construction, crews will do smaller projects along Farrington from Ma'ili to Makaha to restripe and repave lanes, add more streetlights, build sidewalk ramps for wheelchair users, and perform other work to improve visibility.

As for Kaukonahua Road improvements, Soon said the project will add 30,000 linear feet of rumble strips on the road's center lines and 22,000 linear feet to the road's edges. Yellow reflective markers will also be placed on trees and boulders near sharp turns.

There have been various proposals suggested over the years to improve safety along Kaukonahua Road.

Soon said one suggestion to straighten the sharp turns along Kaukonahua Road would cost millions of dollars, and the cost of such a project would be questionable for a road that handles only 9,400 vehicles a day.

"I strongly think that straightening out the road would lead to more speeding drivers," she added.

Another proposal to clear some ironwood trees from the roadside to widen the shoulders of Kaukonahua Road has drawn opposition from area residents.

Despite the planned improvements, police and transportation officials blame nearly all of of the fatal accidents along both stretches of road on driver behavior.

Six of the seven fatalities on Kaukonahua in 2001 were speed- and/or alcohol-related, police have said. Wahiawa police handed out nearly 4,000 speeding citations last year in the Kaukonahua area after three boys were killed in a two-vehicle collision in February 2001.

Reach Scott Ishikawa at sishikawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 535-8110.