$1 million marked for Pali safety

By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer

Work is under way on more than $1 million in safety and landscaping improvements along Pali Highway in Nu'uanu, state and local officials said yesterday.

Workers paint new rumble strips on Pali Highway near the approach to Wyllie Street, at one boundary of the Nu'uanu residential area, in one of a series of safety features. Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser

Both projects are part of a holistic approach to traffic safety developed after a series of fatal accidents in the area raised resident concerns about speeding and other dangers, said Westley Chun, a civil engineer and Nu'uanu resident.

The work, including the elimination of three places where traffic crosses the highway, installation of traffic calming measures and the landscaping, is designed to remind motorists on the busy highway that they are passing through a residential area with many elderly drivers and pedestrians, he said.

The speed limit is 35 mph.

Police statistics show that in the past 10 years, more than half a dozen people have been killed and hundreds injured in the 1.3-mile stretch of highway between Waokanaka and Wyllie streets. Interim traffic-control measures, such as occasional police speed traps and flashing traffic lights, have done little to lower the accident rate.

Two years ago, residents formed a Pali Highway Safety Task Force that asked state and local officials for help. The recent construction work is a result of that group, Chun said.

The work includes:

• State crews last month shut down three areas where cars could cross from one side of the highway to another. The high-accident areas were at Niolopa Place, near Laimi Road and in front of the Nu'uanu Congregational Church. Several left-turn lanes at other intersections were lengthened to take more cars out of through lanes.
  
  
• New polymer rumble strips are being installed by the state on the highway near the approach to Wyllie and Waokanaka streets, considered the boundaries of the Nu'uanu residential area.
  
  Also planned are new traffic signs, freshly painted crosswalks and permanent speed indicators similar to the temporary one town-bound drivers see near the Board of Water Supply pumping station.
  
  
• The Nu'uanu-Alewa city vision team used its resources for two new signs and landscaped areas at the start of the residential area.

The landscape circle at Waokanaka Street will include a rock retaining wall, new crepe myrtle trees and grass, said city spokeswoman Carol Costa. The circle at Wyllie Street will have new coconut palms, a rock wall and ground cover, she said.

A final stage of the project will involve new landscaping of the Pali Highway medial strip.

All the efforts are designed to work together to slow drivers, Chun said.

"You feel the rumble strip, then see the signs, the landscaping and the speed indicator and hopefully take note that you're entering a residential area," he said.

The state work is being done under a $400,000 Department of Transportation contract, said spokesman Scott Ishikawa.

The $635,000 cost for the city landscaping work is being paid for through the O'ahu vision team program, Costa said.

Chun said the project has been accomplished at impressive speed.

"Normally, a highway project takes about eight years from start to finish," he said. "This is all being done in less than two years."