Traffic-calming may be put on hold

By Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

Future rumble strips, speed tables, roundabouts and other "traffic-calming" projects would be put on hold under a resolution before the City Council.

Responding to complaints from the community, seven City Council members have introduced a resolution that would establish a two-year moratorium on budgeting and completing traffic-calming projects. The moratorium also will help the city deal with a projected $180 million budget deficit.

Councilman Charles Djou, who authored the resolution, said that while the first few projects responded to a real need to slow traffic, recent projects have elicited more criticism than praise from the community.

Traffic-calming measures are meant to produce slower speeds, decrease noise and increase safety for pedestrians and drivers, but some communities have complained they back up traffic, take up parking spaces and there's still noise associated with them.

The moratorium would not affect projects that are already in the works.

"This resolution is only saying it's time we took a pause and carefully reviewed this program for any future traffic-calming programs," Djou said.

Although the Transportation Committee will meet next Thursday, this resolution probably will not be put on the agenda until March.

Cheryl Soon, city Department of Transportation Services director, applauded the council's position. "I think this council is wisely taking a step back," she said.

The city has completed 14 traffic-calming projects for $6.26 million, Soon said, while another nine have been put out to bid for $4.9 million. She did not have a dollar figure for another 30 projects in the design phase.

In 1997, the previous council passed a resolution asking DTS to study traffic-calming measures, but Soon said the new council may want to deal with traffic issues differently. "The beauty of traffic-calming devices is that they are there 24-7," Soon said. Drivers learn to drive slowly or avoid the devices altogether.

Since 2000, each council district has been allowed to select one community for a traffic-calming project, and other projects have been introduced by neighborhood boards, vision teams and city council members, Soon said.

"We know that a number of the projects have been highly successful in their efforts to reduce cut-through traffic and speed," Soon said.

Many of the traffic-calming projects came in response to pedestrian accidents in the neighborhood.

Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.