Kahalu'u to try roundabout
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer
KAHALU'U — The state Department of Transportation will build a temporary roundabout at the intersection of Kamehameha and Kahekili highways, modifying the original plan for a permanent structure that area officials said was in jeopardy after the state elections.
"We thought we lost it," said John Piper, a Kahalu'u Neighborhood Board member. "After the election, DOT wouldn't make a commitment that it was a go."
Piper said he and others met with new DOT Director Rod Haraga in January about the project and the department last week confirmed its plan to build a temporary roundabout early next year.
It will be the first roundabout in Hawai'i on a state highway, said DOT spokesman Scott Ishikawa.
The Kahalu'u demonstration project will cost about $300,000, as opposed to the permanent circle that was estimated at $1.6 million, Ishikawa said.
"Before we spend $1.6 million on a permanent concrete roundabout, we want to do a demonstration project to see if it works first," he said.
The temporary roundabout will be the same size as the original plan and will have curbs made of hard plastic that is used for temporary speed bumps, Ishi-kawa said.
The demonstration project should last four to six months, after which the state will collect feedback from commuters and area residents. It will also give engineers time to assess traffic movement during peak hours, he said.
The roundabout was first proposed six years ago in hopes of killing a planned traffic light that was about to be built at the same intersection, a danger spot at the "T" where Kamehameha Highway meets Kahekili, the main route to the city for commuters from the North Shore and Windward areas.
Residents predicted miles of traffic backup if the light was installed at the intersection, where 1,000 vehicles per hour pass during peak traffic hours.
Officials approved the roundabout, but the community nearly lost the project when it asked DOT to delay work on it until a Board of Water Supply project to install a new water main through the area was completed. The reasoning was to not have the road dug up twice, Piper said. But the delay put the roundabout project in jeopardy, he said.
Kahalu'u architect Jan-Peter Pries, who proposed the roundabout, said for a temporary structure to work well it would still need to include proper grading of the circle, adequate lights, warning signs and crosswalks. A poor design could lead to negative response.
"If it's temporary and not adequate, it may not do the job properly," Pries said, adding that the circle was also supposed to be the gateway to rural O'ahu and a major landscape feature.
"People will not appreciate it as much unless the whole thing goes in," he said. "I think since it was approved, they should just do it. They shouldn't do a temporary thing that will only be half-cooked."
Piper said Haraga had reservations about roundabouts and offered the temporary solution.
Patrick Macy, a Ko'olauloa Neighborhood Board member, said he looks forward to the traffic feature and predicted that people would like it. Macy, who lives in La'ie, is principal at Benjamin Parker Elementary School in Kane'ohe and said he takes the Kamehameha Highway route to work. He thinks the roundabout is a good idea.
"I'd be surprised if people didn't like it," he said.
Some people consider Weed Circle in Waialua a roundabout, but actually it is a "rotary," in which speed limits are higher and the vehicle entering the circle has the right of way, Ishikawa said.
A roundabout has slower speeds — 15 to 20 mph for Kahalu'u — and the vehicle in the circle has the right of way, Ishikawa said.
Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.
