Of all the road projects under way around O'ahu, "this one means the most to me personally," said state Department of Transportation spokesman Scott Ishikawa. "With other projects, we're making the traffic go quicker, making the drive smoother. But this is about keeping people safe."

Farrington Highway is widely regarded as one of the state's most dangerous roads, and improvements were welcome news in the community.

"This is probably going to make Farrington safer," said Mark Suiso, a former Wai'anae Coast Neighborhood Board member whose nephew was killed in a traffic accident on Farrington several years ago. "Given the difficulty, it's better than what we've got right now."

Suiso said the real problem is that the only roadway in and out of the Wai'anae Coast is challenged by too many cross-purposes — from through traffic whizzing by in opposite directions, to pedestrians crossing from the mountains to the sea, to local traffic attempting to negotiate right and left turns.

"My personal feeling is that what's really needed is to make provisions for local traffic, so that residents don't have to go on that highway when they're taking their kids to school or going to the store," Suiso said.

Barring that, he said the safety provisions set out by the highway engineers would be a welcome improvement.

Those improvements have been a long time coming, and plagued with delays. Work was scheduled to begin in October 2003, but stalled when the state needed additional time to get the design approved by the Federal Highway Administration.

It was hoped construction could start at the beginning of this year, but that too had to be rescheduled.

"We were supposed to start in February, and what happened was that the bids came in a little higher than the estimate for the project, so we had to go chase more funding down," said Ishikawa. "That took a little while."

He said the barrier would consist of the same concrete fixtures used along the H-1 Freeway Zipper Lane, which he described as more flexible than stationary barriers typically used between opposing lanes of traffic. The idea is that the barrier would absorb vehicle impact better than the tradition concrete wall type.

But before the barrier can be installed, the shoulders between Hakimo and Kaukama Roads must be widened by five to six feet. That work should begin in the next few days and take several months to complete, he said.

Other work along Farrington will include installing sidewalk and wheelchair ramp upgrades in Wai'anae, adding lighting on the makai side between Ala Hema and Orange streets in the Wai'anae/Makaha area, and restriping highway crosswalks and land markers from Nanakuli to Kaena Point State Park.

The entire Farrington project is expected to last through the end of 2006.

"I'm glad to see the Department of Transportation is taking action to reduce the danger of fatalities that have been far too common along that highway," said Rep. Maile Shimabukuro,

D-45th (Wai'anae, Makaha), one of several dignitaries who will attend this morning's ceremony.

"One concern that has been brought up by a number of people is, will there be turn-around areas along that one-mile barrier stretch for emergencies?"

Ishikawa said highway designers had rejected the idea of putting turn breaks along the barrier.

"There's no way to create an opening to the barrier where people can make a U-turn and have safe access," he said.

That will inconvenience motorists in Farrington's Honolulu-bound lanes, who will no longer be able to make left turns along the length of the barrier, Ishikawa acknowledged.

For drivers with homes on the mauka side of the strip, it means traveling to the end of the barrier before being able to circle back home. There is no way to avoid that problem, Ishikawa said.