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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, July 23, 2003

State may remove Nu'uanu rumble strips

By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer

The state will remove its 3-month-old rumble strips on Pali Highway near Wao-kanaka Street if the community wants it done, officials said yesterday.

The Pali Highway's new rumble strips have produced unwelcome noise for many who live in the Wyllie Street area.

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The Nu'uanu Neighborhood Board plans tonight to visit a neighborhood upset about noise from the rumble strips, which were installed to slow traffic on the highway through the residential area.

After listening to the noise, board members could vote immediately either to keep the traffic calming strips or ask to have them removed.

"If that's what they want, we'll go along," state Transportation Department spokesman Scott Ishikawa said yesterday.

Transportation Director Rod Haraga plans to accompany Neighborhood Board members to Ala Kimo Drive, where residents say they have been most affected by the new noise problem.

"It won't be an easy decision. We want to make sure everybody gets a fair shake," said Joe Magaldi, the board's chairman.

The board and a task force of residents requested the rumble strips as part of a program to slow traffic through the 1.3-mile stretch of highway where more than a half-dozen people have been killed and hundreds injured in the past 10 years.

The rumble strips were installed near Wyllie and Waokanaka streets in May, then replaced with smaller ones a few days later after residents complained about noise, and others said they posed a danger to motorcyclists. The rumble strips cost $3,600 to install, and $6,000 to be removed and replaced, the department said.

When the complaints continued, the department monitored decibel levels near the rumble strips and determined they did not violate safety standards.

"Some of the residents are still having trouble though," said Paula Kurashige, a Neighborhood Board member. "We live in a valley between two mountains and simple physics tells you the noise is bouncing around all over. It's causing physical and emotional problems for some people."

Kurashige said residents are frustrated that the nearly $400,000 effort to slow speeders — which has included such other measures as installing new speed indicators, redesigning medians, and altering vehicle crossovers — doesn't appear to be working.

"People are still blasting through the area," she said. "They're even going off on the side streets and speeding like it's a thoroughfare. I want to cry already; it's still out of control."

A Transportation Department survey, however, showed average speeds dropped 5-6 mph after the rumble strips were installed. Even so, the average speeds recorded at three different spots after the rumble strips were put in ranged from 41-46 mph in a 35-mph zone.

Westley Chun, an engineer who helped develop the traffic-calming plan, said it's too early to tell if the strips are helping slow traffic.

"You have to wait until all the elements of the plan are in place," he said. Pending work includes landscaping, new signs and large welcome signs at either entrance of Nu'uanu, which are meant to remind drivers that they are passing through a residential area.

Chun said it's possible the rumble strips could be replaced with another "textured" element on the roadway that might be less noisy.

"If they want the rumble strips removed, I'm OK with that, but tell me, what are we going to do about the speeding then? We've still got a safety problem," said Audry Hidano, another board member.

Kurashige has another idea.

"If the speeding doesn't stop, maybe we'll ask to have the speed limit reduced to 30 miles per hour and get the police out to enforce it. Enough already."

Reach Mike Leidemann at 525-5460 or mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.