Traffic plan for Kailua draws mixed reaction
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer
KAILUA — After decades of seeking an acceptable solution to traffic safety near Kalapawai Market, the city will alter the traffic pattern on Kailua Road by making it one-way from South Kalaheo Avenue to Kailua Beach Center.
Motorists wishing to turn left on Kalaheo Avenue from Kailua Road will be able to at a cut through the triangle park a short distance from the intersection.
The project, to start Wednesday, has drawn mixed reviews from area residents, who have debated the feasibility of traffic lights, four-way stops and a traffic circle at the intersection that leads to Kailua Beach Park.
Traffic converges on that intersection where people stop for coffee, tourists haul their rented kayaks to the beach and commuters head into and out of Lanikai. Weekends can be especially challenging as the beaches fill up with swimmers, paddlers, windsurfers and sunbathers.
With the city promising to evaluate the new pattern over a period of six months, Joe Gilman, who lives on the beach side of Kailua Road, said he'll wait and see.
"I think traffic is going to get tied up in front of Kalapawai Market," Gilman said. "It will be congested."
Gilman had wanted a light or stop signs to control traffic, and give pedestrians and residents coming from his side of Kailua Road a chance to cross the busy intersection, he said.
A traffic circle was approved for the site prior to the beginning of the sewer rehabilitation and replacement project in 2001 and was delayed until after the project was over, but Gilman said it isn't being considered anymore.
Gilman said the latest proposal was suggested by state Sen. Fred Hemmings and sponsored by City Councilwoman Barbara Marshall.
Marshall said several designs were reviewed by the community and this option was preferred.
"An important part of this effort is the city's commitment to evaluating the project during a six-month trial period," she said.
Hemmings, R-25th (Kailua, Waimanalo, Hawai'i Kai), said this is one of three projects he's proposing to address traffic issues in Kailua. He also wants the city and state to create two left-turn lanes off Oneawa Street at Mokapu Boulevard and off Kapa'a Quarry Road at Kalaniana'ole Highway. Hemmings said he's convinced the one-way alteration and left-hand turns will improve traffic flow in Kailua.
"We think little solutions like that might ease these localized traffic problems," he said.
The state is looking into making two left turns from Kapa'a Quarry Road, said Scott Ishikawa, Department of Transportation spokes-man. But the project would most likely be done after the Castle Junction rockfall mitigation project is competed, Ishikawa said.
"It's not as simple as restriping the intersection," he said. "We'll have to do some structural work to widen the road."
Any change at the Oneawa Street intersection would require working with the city, Ishikawa said.
The one-way traffic idea was first proposed by Don Dymond in 2002 but included other traffic measures that are not included in this plan. Dymond said he thinks the new plan would work and not impact Kalapawai Market, which he owns.
Having motorists turn left at the cut-through will reduce the near misses at that intersection where it is difficult to judge oncoming traffic because the line-of-sight-distance isn't good, he said.
"I think what was causing those problems will go away," Dymond said.
Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.
