By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
A car speeds along Kealaolu Avenue in Kahala,
where residents complain about speeding drivers.
Kahala road
has become ‘raceway’
But the city has changes in mind
Star-Bulletin staff
for beleaguered Kealaolu AvenueHenry "Andy" Butler bought his house along Kealaolu Avenue in Kahala in 1978, attracted by the idea of living on "sort of a little country road." But over the past decade or so, the road has turned into a thoroughfare, he says with dismay. Tourists zip by on their way to Hanauma Bay; hotel delivery and garbage trucks rumble through; buses even stop so passengers can admire an African tulip tree in his front yard. And then there is the memory of an accident victim's screams after a head-on collision one night.
"It's like a raceway on this street," Butler lamented. Nearby resident Mary Horn agreed, bothered that the evening quiet far too often is shattered by the sounds of speeders.
"You awaken with them screeching on their brakes," she said. "It's just a freeway, like."
Not much longer, perhaps. The city is planning changes to slow the flow -- including trial construction of its first traffic circle -- and they come none too soon for many on the upscale street.
As if to punctuate their concern, a sports utility vehicle flipped over on Kealaolu in July with enough force to slice an electric pole in half, killing a teen-age boy and injuring nine others. Police said speed was a factor.
"It has become a major arterial, and obviously it was not constructed to be one," said Councilman Duke Bainum. "And while we don't have the money to correct all aspects of it, we need to do all we can to try to make it safer."
No one is arguing with safety, but few seem totally satisfied with the solution. That largely arises because the changes to Kealaolu, which means "the cool road," emerged from a heated debate pitting residents against bicyclists.
The result was a compromise that "by definition is a solution that neither side is happy with," said Richard Turbin, chairman of the Waialae-Kahala Neighborhood Board.
Twenty-one feet wide and a straight 0.7 miles long, Kealaolu Avenue is familiar to participants in the Honolulu Marathon and other races as the connection between Kahala Avenue and Kalanianaole Highway.
Because it is widely used by cyclists, as well as joggers and stroller-pushing parents, the city planned to widen it 4 feet on each side and designate bike lanes.
The city owns the road shoulder, so it didn't have to buy land. But many residents felt the decision was being made without consulting them, Turbin said.
Peggy Morgan, a longtime resident, went door to door last year and organized the opposition.
"It just hit us by storm," she said. "We got a notice that said -- boom! -- the bulldozer was going to be down and we were going to have bike lanes."
"So much controversy over such a noninvasive project on such a short piece of road!" read a headline in the Hawaii Bicycling League's April newsletter.
The dispute led to talks that included Mayor Jeremy Harris, Bainum, Morgan and bike league President Steve Timpson.
In the end, the city decided to widen only the Koko Head side of the street, and not specify it as a bikeway, said Cheryl Soon, director of the city Transportation Services Department.
A redesign is in the works. Additionally, the intersection with Kahala Avenue will become a four-way stop to send a slow-down message to motorists and cyclists making the turn. Work began last month.
The most innovative measure will be a traffic circle at the intersection with Farmers Road, an idea taken from Seattle, which has a couple hundred of them, Soon said. It essentially is a small landscaped area placed in the road that forces vehicles to slow and veer slightly, but still allows trucks, ambulances and buses to pass. A temporary circle, like "a big pot with a tree in it," will be tested a few months before anything permanent is installed.
"I've actually thought of other areas where I think it could be applicable as well," Soon said. "We get a lot of requests from communities who are just saying, 'Hey, we're sick and tired of how fast the traffic runs through our neighborhood.'"
League Executive Director Eve DeCoursey called the decision to widen only one side "the manifestation of a complete fiasco." Morgan described it as "an arbitrary thing to keep the bikers happy."
