Highway divider to be extended
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer
WAIMANALO — The state will install more median barriers on a dangerous section of Kalaniana'ole Highway, extending the temporary protective measure until a permanent solution is planned and paid for.
Motorists should anticipate intermittent road closures on Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. during the roadwork, said Scott Ishikawa, state Department of Transportation spokesman.
Concrete barriers will be placed in the median below the entrance to Olomana Golf Links, adding to the row of barriers placed above the golf course entrance in March after a February accident. Royal Contracting will do the work for $2,000, which includes placing energy-absorbing sand barrels at the end of the barriers.
Ishikawa said the state will seek money to find a permanent solution, which could include widening the road, installing guard rails or straightening out the curve in the highway.
That stretch of highway has been the scene of collisions, near-misses and two deaths in recent years.
Waimanalo resident Ramus Seabury, 62, died after a head-on collision Feb. 23 in which police said a 19-year-old man fell asleep at the wheel while driving to Waimanalo and drifted across the center line.
Two years ago, Lorrie-Ann Wiley, 32, of Waimanalo, died near the same location after a drunk driver drifted across the center line and hit her head-on as she drove toward Kailua.
In February the community sought barriers and other measures to protect motorists.
The state responded by adding plastic dots on the highway immediately after Seabury's death and installing a 600-foot-long concrete median barrier the next month. Since then state officials and residents have worked together to plan a permanent solution.
The accident sites are at the end of a straight downhill run from Kailua to Waimanalo where Kalaniana'ole Highway narrows from four lanes to two and where traffic is picking up speed. Just past the entrance to the golf course, where the barriers will be installed, drivers must negotiate an "S" turn.
Harriet Seabury, Ramus Seabury's widow, said she also wanted barriers above the entrance to the golf course because she said that is where a car drifted into the opposite lane before it struck and killed her husband.
"They're putting it on the downside of the entrance to Olomana golf course, but everybody is getting hit upside," Seabury said, adding that she's thankful the state is doing something now.
"I'm glad they're putting it there, but I wish they'd fix the upper side first because that's the priority to the community," Seabury said.
Sen. Fred Hemmings, R-25th (Kailua, Waimanalo, Portlock, Hawaii Kai), applauded DOT for the short-term solution but said the unsightly barriers must be replaced and that he would work with the department to get money for the project.
"Waimanalo deserves highway guard rails similar to ones utilized throughout the state," Hemmings said. The metal rails should run from New Town & Country Stables to below the entrance to the golf course, he said.
Wilson Ho, Waimanalo Neighborhood Board chairman, said the community had also wanted protection for cars turning left into the golf course. He said he expects that to be addressed once money is available.
The DOT has been very responsive to the community, which has been fighting to get a solution in place at that site for five years, Ho said. "Of course, we won't be satisfied until it's done," he said. "But we're really pleased with the progress."
Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com. or 234-5266.
