Highway safety options weighed
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer
WAIMANALO — A bouquet of red heliconia marks the spot on Kalaniana'ole Highway where a Waimanalo man was killed in a head-on collision Sunday and where the state is considering installing a new, more substantial type of rumble strip to improve safety.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
Rod Haraga, director of the state Department of Transportation, said traffic engineers will try to determine this week if thermoplastic stripping across the highway could serve as a better warning to drivers heading into the "s" turn that they should slow down.
The state is considering installing a new type of rumble strip near a curve on Kalaniana'ole Highway in Waimanalo. The spot was marked yesterday by flowers in memory of a man who was killed there Sunday.
The plastic strips, which can be felt through the steering column, have been used successfully along the Leeward Coast, he said. Cost should not be prohibitive but engineers must first decide where they need to be placed and how many to use, Haraga said.
"I think this roadway probably needs something like that," he said yesterday. "It will wake you up."
But residents and Waimanalo leaders said the DOT should do more on a section of road that is gaining a reputation as deadly.
Residents and a state senator are calling for a protective barrier, flashing lights and more warning pads on the Kailua side of the "s" turn where two people have died in head-on collisions in two years.
"A concrete barrier won't protect the person that bangs it, but it will protect an innocent life," said Andrew Jamila Jr., a Waimanalo Neighborhood Board member. "That's what we're looking for."
Jamila said he also wants a flashing light and more of the bumps that warn people of the turn and in some cases wakes them up.
Ramus Seabury, 62, died early Sunday morning when a 19-year-old man from Kailua, who is a family friend, apparently fell asleep at the wheel near the entrance to Olomana Golf Links, crossed the center line and collided with a vehicle driven by Seabury.
Police have said that speed and alcohol may have been factors in the accident and have launched a negligent homicide investigation.
The DOT had already considered a flashing light and a barrier at the location and ruled them out, Haraga said. Flashing lights won't help a drunk driver, and barriers on narrow roads — such as Kalaniana'ole at this spot — can be harmful, Haraga said.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
Barriers create more hazards, he said, adding that the ends are dangerous if struck by an automobile that happens to drift out of the lane.
Police yesterday monitored the speed of motorists near the Olomana Golf Course where a man was killed Sunday.
"I would strongly object to a physical barrier on a narrow road because it's the end of the barriers that are going to be the hazards," Haraga said. "I'd say absolutely if they would allow us to widen the road, but that's another story."
However, area residents cling to the belief that a median is the only solution that will provide ample safety at the location, which is toward the bottom of a downhill stretch where the four-lane highway narrows to two lanes and the speed limit drops from 45 mph to 35 mph, then 25 mph in a relatively short distance.
Sen. Fred Hemmings, R-25th (Kailua-Waimanalo-Portlock), said he has asked the state to use emergency money to build a median guard rail.
"When I first got elected in 2001 there was a traffic death there and we got rumble bumps and this latest one clearly shows that something more definitive has to be done," Hemmings said.
According to DOT records, from Jan. 17, 1997, to Jan. 2, 2001, there were eight accidents near Olomana Golf Links, including the head-on collision that killed Lorrie-Ann Wiley on Jan. 2, 2001.
While the location is gaining a reputation as deadly among local residents, it doesn't begin to rank among O'ahu's more dangerous areas. For example, more than 76 people have been killed in traffic accidents on Farrington Highway from Honokai Hale to Ka'ena Point since 1990.
Wilson Ho, Waimanalo Neighborhood Board chairman, said if the state puts the rumble strips nearer to Old Kalaniana'ole Road they would be helpful, but he still wants some kind of barrier that will stop an out-of-control car.
Ho said he would be willing to support widening the road but only in the area of the golf course where the road turns.
The community has objected to a road widening for years and sees such a project as an urbanization of the community.
"They want to widen all the way to Bellows field, but if that's the price, for us it's no way," Ho said.
Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.
